I go out walking

So I went to my Pathways to Health meeting yesterday. Hard to believe it's already been a week since the first meeting and since my last post. Since the first session, we lost a couple people, gained a couple others. One of the others was a women in her late 80's with severe Osteoarthritis. Over the years she's had 4 joints replaced but managed to maintain an active lifestyle until 7 months ago when her hip went south. Now she's in misery and has lost much of her mobility. She figures if she can get the #!/* medical establishment to authorize a hip replacement, she'll be good to go. And when she goes, she goes.

I ended up paired with her to discuss what about our condition makes us feel difficult emotions. I have to admit, I felt right on the border of silly. There I was whining about my weight when half the folks in the group are as big as me but have put on weight because of some serious underlying condition. Obesity doesn't even make their list of chronic conditions they are trying to address. But even so, I plowed ahead and identified the following "whats" about being fat that contribute to difficult emotions: (1) discomfort - like when I eat too much and feel sick or my belly actually hurts, or when my pants become too tight and create a big red mark where they pinch my midriff; and (2) lack of mobility. For example, I can't do child's pose because of stiffness in my back and because my huge belly gets in the way. Blow up a large beach ball, hold it at your belly and they try and lay flat against the floor with the ball beneath you. Physically impossible. Also, I have recently found that whenever I would think about traveling I would dismiss the idea, feeling that I'm just getting too old.

Yeah, yeah, this causes difficult emotions. The old lady experiences frustration and anger at the medical establishment. I experience these emotions too, but I realized I don't really have anyone else to direct the emotions at. Nope, no doctor is forcing me to sit on my butt or eat too much bad food. (How distressing! Is beating yourself up an emotion? Perhaps a cookie would make me feel better.)

Then to top it off, my 80 (maybe even 90) something partner tells me that just last year she was traipsing all around China, all by herself!

After the partnering activity, we went on to discuss physical activity and ended by making another action plan for the week. I decided to maintain my plan of working out at Curves at least three times a week. As well, I added that I would also walk at least one mile this week. We had to partner again to call each other to check on how we're doing on our plan. For this I partnered with some hyperactive retired guy with a host of problems. But then, from across the room, the old lady says she'd also like to call to check on my progress. "Uh, well . . . sure, ok. Guess I'll get lots of support this week."

This morning I drove my husband to an appointment. While waiting for him, I decided to take advantage of a break in the rain and walk. I walked well over a mile. I figured I might as well get that requirement out of the way so I could report progress when all these people call to check on me.

When I returned to the car, I noticed my tire was going flat. I took my husband home and then drove in to get the tire repaired. While waiting, I walked a half mile to Curves, worked out and then walked a half mile back. P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S!

I notice that with just this much physical activity, Curves and walking 2 miles, I can feel the oxygen entering my body when I breathe. It feels like energy. It feels good. It feels better than a cookie.