I've been fairly active for years. Even at my heaviest, I was still going to the gym or working out two or three times a week. I had come to learn to love exercise and start to feel pretty tired if I didn't regularly work up a sweat. But no matter how much I exercised, I would never lose weight. Seems to defy reason -- but there is a pretty simple answer. I just ate more as I increased my activity. My body was perfectly happy to move around, but it wanted to be compensated for it with more food. I'd get ravenously hungry.
By the time I reached 250 pounds though, I found it increasingly difficult to exercise. My joints hurt and it was an incredible labor to get myself moving. Honestly, this was the final warning sign that I was becoming dangerously large. I was reasonably willing to deal with being fat as long as I could move and feel strong.
But something about hitting 250 changed my entire body. My joints started to hurt, my breath seemed to quicken too easily and my blood pressure kept creeping up. This was the final straw -- I started to get scared for my health, despite my healthy food choices and regular exercise. It dawned upon me --at age 25, it wasn't going to get any better for me as I got older and presumably fatter. This had to stop.
Since getting my band, I have become more active and have been able to do more than I have in years. I'm working out 4-7 times a week and continually amazed by how much more I can do as the weight comes off and my body gets stronger. It takes much more effort for me to get my heart-rate up and it recovers much more quickly. I can lift more weight and walk faster. All I have to do is pick up my 40-pound 3 year old and try to climb the stairs. No wonder it was so hard for me before!
Recently, I read an article in Walking Magazine about a woman who trained and completed the Honolulu Marathon for her 55th birthday. I figured if she could do it, so could I! So now I'm training to do the marathon this winter with my father. I've included my training plan, directly lifted from the article, for reference. It's really not that difficult -- I was amazed how simple it looked. But honestly, pre-op, it would have looked monumental.
Alot of fat folk shudder when they hear the word "exercise." This is unfortunate -- humans are designed for moderate activity and we all -- thin or fat -- suffer when we don't move around. I strongly encourage everyone to get moving -- just walk around the block if nothing else. Do something fun and stop counting calories -- just get moving and have some fun. As far as I'm concerned, I have a new lease on life and there is nothing more fun and affirming that moving my groove thang.