Starting is Harder than Anything
About a month ago, I thought I’d finally made the decision to get in shape. I knew then that I needed to start exercising, start eating better, to start treating myself better. But you know how it goes. One day, you think you’ll start, but then you just don’t. Starting is hard, y’all. Starting is harder than anything. Typically I do not like to do hard things. Easy is just so much easier.
Then today, I went to my GYN for my annual exam. (Don’t balk, I’m not going there.) Due to unemployment and what not, it had been awhile since I’d seen her. In fact, it had been about three years. In that time, I’d gained 15 pounds. My blood pressure was elevated, but not dangerous (the “yet” went unspoken). “Is your regular doctor screening you for diabetes?” she asked. She pointed out some other conditions I have related to my weight gain that I had been able to ignore. Until today.
I used to pride myself on my low blood pressure (“I faint if I stand up too quickly!”). I always felt younger than my years, at least in my head. But something has happened in the past 5 years or so. I’ve never had an easy time keeping my weight down, but I just let myself go. I’ve gained over 50 pounds in that short amount of time. I get winded walking up one flight of stairs. I don’t think twice about adding salt to my plate, or eating an extra scoop of ice cream even if I’m already full. And while there’s nothing wrong with being heavy if you’re healthy, I’ll just say it – I’m not healthy.
Today, it finally twigged. I finally realized that I needed to take control. I called Mr. Martini and asked him to throw away all the sweets that had accumulated in the house recently. He happily complied, and was astonished to learn I’d been hoarding some candy and chocolate in the pantry.
Proud of this first step, I figured that was enough for one day. As I was heading out the door from work, I thought “And then tomorrow night, I’ll go out and take a walk.”
Then I caught myself. Why wait until tomorrow? What was wrong with tonight? What was wrong with right now?
Couch to 5K Day One – Complete. 1.18 miles, 15:43 pace
That hurt. A lot. But not so much that I’m not going to do it again on Wednesday.
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- Starting is Harder Than Anything « Susan Tries to Run | May 22, 2012
It is like a rock rolling downhill: you can do it and it will get easier. Congrats!
And one tiny piece of advice: stretch. a. lot.
You’re beautiful! Walknjogs unite!
Starting is indeed the hardest part. Between the knee surgery and school, I’ve lost a lot of healthy habits ( like getting up early to exercise) and gained a lot of unhealthy ones. Now that I’m through the hardest year, though, it’s time to jump back on the healthy train. We can do it! (And you rock for heading out after work in Louisville’s weather. Living in Seattle has made me soft. I think 75 & sunny is “hot.”)
Good for you, Susan! I’ve been thinking about the same thing, and you’re right: starting is the hardest part.
Go for it!
Your plan sounds great and is good for you! Let’s get heathier and lower the bloodpressure!
I started the same C25K training on the same day! I’ve been good and went all three times last week and again yesterday. And then yesterday my knee started hurting…bad. I don’t know if I have simply over done it or if this means that running won’t work for me. I will have to take tomorrow off to avoid further injury and see how I feel over the next few days. Hopefully I will recover completely and be able to continue. It would be great to have a fellow virtual motivator going through the same training!