Breathing is futile

I have become assimilated into the Borg… or at least that’s what you might think if you ever saw me some morning.

Back in May I mentioned how I had started walking to lose weight and that seeing my mom after she lost 40 pounds (the same amount I hope too), I was worried that losing too much weight would age me to the point of looking way older than my 49 years.

I guess I am glad to say that I didn’t give up on my efforts. In fact, this week I amped them up a little. I started running again. Something I’ve not done in years. Since my daughter has been home, she’s joined me on morning walks. Lately though, her work has interfered with our bonding moments, and I’ve gone back to working out alone.

I can usually get in almost 3.5 miles in an hour. But I’ve hit a wall in my weight loss endeavors and needed to do something else. That’s where the running came in and where I became vulnerable to the Borg.

I am fully integrated with my iPhone – listening to my tunes; using a timer to keep track of when to turn around and head home; occasionally stopping to use my camera app to illustrate my morning adventures; dangerously checking both my Twitter feed and emails; making or taking ill-timed phone calls; AND now I have downloaded a Couch2-5K training program.

Based on the chastising I’ve gotten from both my husband and daughter, I’m also packing water. I tried just taking a bottle of cold H20, but drank all of it before my halfway point. So… I’ve borrow one of my husband’s Camelbak water packs. This season’s must-have fashion accessory. I’ve got to look like a doofus wearing it, yet I do have a ready supply of cold water to replenish what I’m sweating out in buckets.

Adding to my exercise arsenal are my pedometer, and my heart monitor watch.

I must be quite a sight. Gone are the old days when all I needed was to measure the distance I planned to walk with my car’s odometer. Now I look more than a Transformer with all my bell and whistles, than simply a  middle-aged mom out for a walk.

The only thing I could possibly need to add to all of this paraphernalia is an extra lung.

I was pleased to discover that my arthritic ankles and knees tolerated the running better than I expected. I did however forget how to breathe. I was sucking wind like all the air on earth had been depleted. There has to be a secret to it. Hopefully being part of the Hive Mind will clue me into the answer.

The weight loss is now noticeable. I’ve dropped a whole dress size and my shirts are not so squeezy tight. This week, for the first time, I saw it when I looked in a mirror. My face is clearly thinner.

I’m 20+ pounds down… achieving my first goal of losing 10% of my body weight. I have 10 more pounds to go until my second goal – getting my Body Mass Index (BMI) into the normal range. Anything more than that is icing on the cake… or hummus on the celery sticks.

Submitted as part of Shell’s “Pour Your Heart Out” writing prompt at Things I Can’t Say. Please stop by to read the other posts, and give a little comment love.