So, today was the day I promised to do the 5K for the Puppy Love for the Humane Society. Since I was racing against myself (as it was a virtual race) I had to be on my honor and use the GPS to track me to make sure I didn't cheat and do less distance. :) We went to Highlands Hammock early and just had a wonderful time. I'm sorry for the Northern residents, because it was really gorgeous here today.
It's still a bit of a challenge to run/jog/walk with my dog, Gator. He is a hound so any smell sends him off in front of me, behind me, wherever. I have a "Running Dawg" belt so I just hook him onto it so I don't have to hold a leash. But, when he finds a smell that's interesting, he is like pulling a LOT of extra weight. Still, he enjoys it so much and now he is totally exhausted and asleep on the couch. We actually ended up doing 3.86 miles in the end because I kept resetting my program when he would take off for a smell. Finally I gave up and figured I would just keep running/jogging/walking and he would just have to keep up, which he did.
So now I feel good, although a little sore, as you would expect. The main thing is that I feel GOOD that I did something. Exercise when we are on a diet program is so important. I don't think I've ever been able to lose much when I did incorporate exercise.
So, has anybody seen THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION by HBO? They are actually a series of documentaries, all of them relatively short but oh my word, so to the point. In one of them they did a study for 9 months on some people to see how they processed calories, etc. It turns out that when you have gone overweight you have a "set" point and no matter what you do, your body will try to return to that set point. Your body turns remarkably efficient with the calories and they said that 2 people of the exact same weight..one that had always been that weight and one that had been heaver...that the one that HAD been heavier could only take 80% of the calories of the other person or they would gain weight. And, really great news here, they said it never goes away. So, onto the idea that this is an entire lifetime change and challenge. Most of us know that, I mean most heavier people I know have lost a LOT of weight in their lives, over and over. You know, lose 5, gain 10, etc.
But take heart because we can beat this, it might always been on our back but we can tell it to shut up and sit down and we can beat it. You can beat it with proper nutrition, exercise and support of friends and family.
I AM going to beat that sucker, the naysayer....
Later, Denise