Well, more like an old thing revisited. Some of you that had followed my old blog got earfuls about my running, weight training, and eating habits. I have had two periods of time in my life in which I got consistent and strenuous exercise. The first was when I was thirteen or so, and that was primarily running. I hated being the fat one and not being able to keep up with everyone. I went from 140 pounds to 117 over the course of a few years, 117 being my absolute lightest. I generally ran 3-6 miles at a time, and I remember eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I would just go with the flow of hunger. I remember one particularly long run - it was 7 or 8 miles, I can’t remember. I got up at 4:30 and ran a little over an hour, having to return home before 6 for family devotions. I remember almost limping home, and realizing that to go any distance further than that, I would have to undergo those same first 8 miles *again.*
During the years between 13 and 18, I ran off and on, but I did run consistently for long periods of time and it felt great. I remember running in the minutes just before the sun rises in the *winter,* the snowfall from the night before still powdery on the sidewalk (cold!).
Then came the barefoot adventure, which if I recall correctly lasted about a year and ended after I pushed myself on a five mile run in Virginia with my cousin and strained/tore my tendon. It was extremely painful to walk on immediately after the run, but I kept running. After about 9 months I figured it wouldn’t just go away and went to the doctor. “No running for 12 weeks.” That ended my last running stint. The only running I’ve done since have been a single run here and there.
The second exercise life that I had was Body For Life and other weight training. I can’t remember how long it lasted, but I did weight training three times a week and intense cardio (usually not running) two or three times a week. I ate six meals a day. I got thinner. I got muscle bumps. I didn’t eat the same meals as my family. I remember at one church where they had refreshments after our concert I didn’t eat any cookies or sweets. I took all of the sliced raw summer squash that was leftover (almost all of it! It wasn’t very popular.) I pigged out on my free days (once a week break from eating “right”), and looked forward to having waffles or pancakes *all week!* I would make cakes or cookies every Sunday.
I did this on the road, using sound equipment as weights. But after a while on the road, my eating was slipping. We were being taken out at least twice a week during a particular trip, and it would always be to a buffet. I would load a plate as full as I could with salad with no dressing and no extra fats. Then I would go to the buffet and eat whatever I wanted. But I wouldn’t always do that, and then there were still church meals. I heard about Eat-Stop-Eat somewhere, which is a way of eating that involves fasting. I decided if I pigged out, I’d fast for the next 24 hours. This was an effective sabotage of my exercise/eating revolution, unfortunately. I still don’t know much about the Eat-Stop-Eat philosophy, but just punishing myself after eating a lot with a fasting period afterward made me feel horrible because it was hard to fast, and then I would feel justified in my pigging out because I was just going to fast afterward anyway. I gave it up and I haven’t done any exercise in a while. Except my biking around town, which I don’t really know if it counts as exercise.
So I got out Body For Life from the library yesterday. I read it. I went out last night and bought cottage cheese, tuna, you know, all that stuff I used to eat so much of. I cooked two eggs and had them with veggies this morning. I packed a lunch today. Instead of snacking on candy and granola bars and such, I ate a sandwich with ham and whole wheat bread, mustard (no mayo!), and had a second meal of cottage cheese and a banana.
There is a huge bag of candy sitting near the front door. If trick or treaters don’t come for it tomorrow, I am going to be so tempted to just eat it all up. Augh. I also have ice cream in the fridge, Reeses Peanut Butter cups on my bookshelf, which I hardly ever buy, but they were on sale.
Skwigg is just so cool. Her blog is something that has been inspiring during my BFL year(s?) and when I started thinking about doing BFL again her name popped into my mind. She has a lot of great advice about eating and exercising and being fit. For real. None of this gimicky stuff, or crash diets, or weird things. And I love how she does *different* things. She does different programs and has changed over the years.
Posted by Bonnie under Uncategorized
1 Comment
It was fun! 
I used to take sleeping in so much for granted. I should be overjoyed that I don’t have a 70-hour workweek and not take what I have for granted! I actually have a day off 
