BUMPS in the Road:

Do you know the saying “you gotta crawl before ya walk, walk before ya run….”?

With my back issues, and being overweight, I had difficulty most days just getting out of bed; much less walking…you could forget any other form of exercise. So I knew, for me, the first step had to be getting rid of some of the weight. I might not have chosen the best or most approved method of weight loss, but I found what worked for me! And that is what I recommend to anyone.  If it is something that you know is not going to work for you, then DON’T waste your time, money or energy. Do what works for you!! It has to fit your eating style and your lifestyle or you will never be successful.

          My First Bump:

After I started to lose weight, I was able to start exercising. I chose to start out with biking (and not the Harley kind of biking...haha).  Now, that was a sight!! I had not ridden a bicycle in at least 30 years AND I am not the most coordinated person in the world! But my husband had bought me the bike I wanted for my birthday (ONE YEAR BEFORE) and I had yet to “break it in”. So, I decided one Saturday to dust it off, pump up the tires (put on my helmet), made Frank stay in the house, and went for a ride. In Florida, we had nice cement bike paths, and I enjoyed a nice 2 mile trek…boy was I proud of myself and I was feeling pretty good too….UNTIL, I had to cross the street to get back to the house. Oh my…shaky legs, on a bike, and have to cross a street with traffic. I finally decided to cross at the entrance to our subdivision and then cross back over onto the sidewalk! And YES, I hit the grass (St. Augustine, soggy grass) and the front tire bogged down and in VERY SLOW motion, I and the bike fell over into the grass and sidewalk. Mind you, I had just ridden 2 miles, ugh. *blush* I could NOT stand up!!!!! So here I am, lying in the grass, bike on top of me, looking around to make certain no one is around. How did I get up? I finally got on my knees and pushed on the handle bars to push myself up. Prayed no one saw me, and pushed the bike the rest of the way home. I did have to tell Frank about the episode because of all the grass stains and scuffed up hands, and YES he still laughs about that today!!

Not to long ago, I would have gone back to the garage, put the bike up, and deemed my efforts for exercising a failure. I would have totally used this as a reason to stop exercising which would have led to failure of my goals…..I know, because it was the same cycle I had done for years. It was like I sought out any reason (any bump) as an excuse to quit.  The key this time is that I did not let this bump stop me! I dusted myself off, reminded myself of my goals and I started biking almost every day. Then I started alternating walking with biking. Before I knew it I was walking 2-3 miles and biking from 10-15 miles and had lost a total of 40 pounds!! I BEAT THAT BUMP!!

I have to say three things to end this post: 1. losing weight was the “easy” part. Keeping it off is where the true challenge comes into play, 2. there are all sorts of “Bumps” which arise in any journey - - it is finding the will / desire to keep going which makes the journey a success, and 3. remind yourself often of your goals!

**NOTE: This weekend I will “change pace” a little and will be posting a blog about goals. I have to preface this by saying I am not one that goes by the book with goal setting, but I do think they are essential pathways in any journey.