My Body Hates Me

Two years ago I sat on this very same sofa planning a path of sweat and tears that would hopefully ultimately climax in a much thinner me and a lot of children being helped through child sponsorship. Today, two years later I am slimmer than I was, but not as slim as I could be, but more importantly there are approximately 60 children who were living in poverty who are now a part of Compassion International's Child Sponsorship program - most of whom live in El Salvador.

2010 was an awesome year, but 2011 rolled around and good habits slipped, bad habits crept in and here I sit, having had one day at the gym in approximately 3 months and boy am I feeling it.

In the spirit of full confession and self-imposed accountability, I stepped on the scales on Tuesday just a smidge over 280lbs and stepped gingerly back on to the treadmill. What was once a warm-up for a full work out session took my breath away, took my legs away and broke all communication between my feet and my head. My body parts spent Tuesday night rebelling. Legs felt the worst, and complained the most. You would think that with a PhD in Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness that I would know that this was going to happen and that there was nothing to do about it.

But no.

Apparently the brain had decided that the rest of the body did not need to hear the truth about what was to come. Instead of preparing for the aches and pains that would come, my body seemed to believe that it could just step back into the gym and all would be right with the world.

Hmmm, not the case.

40 minutes on the treadmill, and a back and shoulders work out on the machines and Wednesday morning reduced me to T-Rex status. I rolled out of bed, slowly, stood up, and groaned. Not the masculine roar of a T-Rex about to hunt its prey, but more of a sad whimper of a pathetic groan that indicated that my effectiveness for the day would be limited. My T-Rex-ness was completed by my tiny arms - or at least my inability to raise my arms above my head. Yup, this was going to be a day when anything above my head would just have to stay where it was and could be dealt with another day, when overhead movements might be possible.

Wednesday did not turn out to be a gym day, but I did map out a route from my front door, around the neighborhood and back to my door that is 3.5miles. This, I determined would be walked/jogged/run/crawled on days when I could not get to the gym.

One thing is sure - 2012 will be more like 2010 and my weight will be back in the 230/240 range before long.