Losing Weight

I was re-reading my previous blog, and I felt like I ought to say more about food.

I used to be really fit. (There's a link to these thoughts, I promise.) I used to do karate and triathlons and lift weights and all kinds of things. Then, I blew my knee out (dislocated my kneecap) for the fourth time, and my body was like, "Ok, that's it, I quit. No more exercising." Then, the rest of me quit, and I began smoking cigarettes and living a heavy-partying lifestyle.

You can guess what happened, I'm sure. Before I knew it, I had gained 30 pounds.

I was able to ride out my general fitness for a little while, so my weight gain happened very slowly at first, then quite suddenly. I became alarmed and decided to do something about it.

I began trying to run again. Now, when you have gained 30 extra pounds from the last time you went running, it doesn't quite feel the same. It feels like you strapped 30 pounds of pork chops to your gut, butt, and legs. Add that to the damage I did to my lung capacity, and you had a sweaty, slobbery mess working its way up the track.

I put down cigarettes, mostly because I was dating a really cute guy who hated smoking, but also because I had always meant to and now I had a good reason. I have been smoke-free now for 15 months (whoo!). I have since thanked my husband for adding years to my life. (He was the cute guy.)

I lost 10 pounds when I quit drinking, but now I had 20 pounds that won't budge. After a year of reintroducing exercise, I hadn't been able to lose an ounce. I still tried running, but my knees were ruined. Enter Pilates.

I thought Pilates was just a funny joke "workout" for people who couldn't actually work out, something for enfeebled people and rich health nuts. Well, I was enfeebled, so I decided to give it a shot and see if I could rehab my knees. (*Disclaimer* I am not a health care professional. If you have bad knees or another infirmary, talk to a doctor before doing anything I recommend, ever. Actually, always talk to a professional before ever doing anything I recommend, regardless of the subject matter. Except for cooking. You can probably trust my instructions on cooking.)

You may be wondering how paying money for weight loss fits in with this lifestyle we embraced that shouldn't have allowed me to gain a lot of weight to begin with. The answer is that I have not paid any more money to do Pilates than I have already spent.

We have a Netflix account, and Netflix already has a bunch of exercise videos that I use. You can also find a lot of exercise tapes for free on Youtube, and About.com has a variety of explanations for Pilates exercises. I own a mat (you can buy a good one for about $30.), and I already had little hand weights (3 lbs). I have been working at it for about 2 months, and I am definitely seeing results. My knees feel better than they have in years, and I am slowly losing weight. (*Disclaimer* Don't forget to talk to that doctor.) All this for way less than a gym membership. I would like one day to join a YMCA, but that's in the distant future. Until then, I will continue to work with what I have, building my knees back up to a place where I can live an active lifestyle with knees that suit my 23 years, instead of my knees aging way faster than the rest of me.

It's a bit of a digression, but since I love GK Chesterton, I leave you today with this quote from him:

"The trouble with always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind."