Friday, September 19, 2008

A former fatty

I did a very easy slow 10 miles today, a pretty good run. It's getting colder in the mornings and I keep forgetting my gloves! I bought a nice pair on sale this summer from my FNRS* and have yet to wear them. I'm thinking I'll have to wrap Mr Garmie around them the night before my next run.

Sarah commented on my last post regarding my weight loss of 50 pounds, she thought I might be a life time running skinny person type. I was, indeed a skinny person for many years, even though I had a pretty terrible diet-fat, sugar, salt, didn't matter to me; I ate it all. The only thing that kept me from gaining weight was my fast metabolism and an active lifestyle. Throughout my teen years, I rode horses, which includes mucking out stalls, loading and unloading hay bales, and grooming and saddling a very big horse. My weight stayed down well into my 30s, then something happened. I took a sedentary job and my metabolism decided to take a permanent vacation.

I started to slowly gain weight and I didn't care. I thought weight gain in your 30s and 40s was normal and unavoidable. I stopped seeing a doctor regularly and just kind of stopped caring about my health. Now fast forward about 10 years to my late 40s. I had a very minor health issue that just wouldn't go away. I went to a new doctor (I went kicking and screaming and being nagged the whole time by Hubby). The Dr. immediately addressed the minor health issue, and then he said something like "Now, lets talk about your weight.". This led to a 15 minute conversation about things like heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and my current new health issue of high blood pressure.

The doctor told me the single most important thing I could do to avoid all these nasty problems was to lose weight, eat healthy, and exercise. I decided then and there to turn the whole mess around. I had great motivation-I knew that I would be in the doctor's office at least a couple of times a month to check my blood pressure, and I knew he would weigh me every time. So the blood pressure meds started working, my weight started dropping, and I started running for the first time in my life.

I still see the same doctor, and he seems pretty pleased overall with my healthy lifestyle. He's even told me a couple of times not to lose any more weight; it seems that now while I'm within the normal range I'm near the bottom of normal! I think I'll keep it right where it is. It's so much easier to gain weight than it is to lose it!

*friendly neighborhood running store

4 comments:

BeachRunner said...

It's always nice to know the back story. Bravo!

jimpurdy1943@yahoo.com said...

That's great progress. I waited too long to deal with my own weight, and I've had a number of health problems. I'm finally working on them, though, and things are getting better. Best wishes to you.

robison52 said...

Your past parallels my own...started a sedentary job (cab driver) gained weight (fast food drive-thrus) and reached 250 pounds, taking depression medicines, and having high blood pressure...eventually saw the light and started exercising, running, and eating healthier. I'm now 174 pounds, but could still lose a few more pounds before the Las Vegas Marathon.

Sarah said...

Thanks for sharing your story. I always enjoy hearing about someone's "history". :)