Motivation

One of the things I promised myself this year is that I would get back to eating a healthy diet. I want to amend that promise: I want to eat healthy and exercise. I used to be an exercise fanatic, running, doing aerobics, playing assorted sports. But then that fell to the bottom of my list of priorities. Then I hurt my back. Then I hurt my leg. And the more parts of my body that fell into disrepair, the more the excuses NOT to exercise piled up. My body is just in too bad of a shape for me to exercise.

Meanwhile, I longed for the days of physical fitness. My heart yearned to run again. How I so wanted to ride a bike again. How I wanted to learn how to swim. The best I was able to do was go for walks, but even now I can't do that anymore. That's the last straw!

This is the year of change for me. This is the year I step up and STOP wishing and START doing!

So that means I'm going to stop wishing I could be physically active again. I am going to TRY to be physically active again.

I am seeing a doctor today because of my hip problem. I don't know WHAT in the world happened to my hip, but it's just one more item on the list of grievances I have. This hip thing has been so bad that moving around was nearly impossible. Some days, I was limping, and not just because of my bad foot! It was so painful for me to move, I nearly passed out from the pain just from bending over to tie my shoes.

And after the hip problem is fixed, next item on the list is my foot. Then my back. Slowly but surely, everything will get checked out. And I can talk to a doctor about the best exercises for me to do.

For now, I do stretching whenever possible. The stretching does wonders for my back and hip. Until those are better and stronger, I know I have to take it slow.

And last night, as if to give a good kick into my desires to be more physically active and in better shape, something happened that sticks with me. My daughter poked at my stomach and asked, "Are you pregnant?" It seemed like an innocent question. After all, she'd just seen me refuse alcohol with my dinner. Maybe she was thinking something was up. It doesn't help that I LOOK pregnant. Seriously, my stomach sticks out and I look like I'm carrying a baby in there.

But, no. I'm not pregnant. Just overweight.

By year's end, I hope to change that. I hope to be physically fit and not look like I'm eating for two.


NOTE: I feel compelled to point out that the pain in my hip is usually not this bad every single day but the occasional flare-ups are pretty bad. Still, my hip is not in the best condition, even without the flare-up. My doctor appointment was moved to later in the week.