The Death Of Me........Or Starting To Work Out

About three weeks or so ago my wife got a family membership for us at the YWCA that is located three blocks from our house. She did it because both of us need to lose weight and get in better shape. I had to face the fact that for too long I had been living a very sedentary life and while once upon a time my metabolism could withstand my poor eating habits that sadly is no longer the case. Truthfully my metabolism changed about twenty years ago while I was in the Army and I never adjusted with it.


So now I find myself at forty six years on this earth and in desperate need of a making a change in my life. I stand 6 feet 1 inch tall and weigh (fully clothed) about 260 pounds which means I need to lose 20-30 pounds at a minimum for my body frame. Even more would be better of course, especially since I want to be around for my son. Factor in that my Mother had a near fatal heart attack two years ago and you can see where I'm heading.

With all of this in mind if you saw me two weeks ago you would have found me striding hesitantly in the door of the Y. My decision was that given my poor physical condition it would not be wise to jump in full bore and push myself to the limit and then to be barely able to walk for a week or so until I recovered. Instead I would go on Monday, Wednesday and Friday using the treadmill and various weight machines and build from there, slowly but surely. On the other days if possible perhaps I could go to the swimming pool for a change of pace.

After the first week however I found myself reverting to old form and was already starting to increase the weight on the machines and even started doing extra sets on some of them. Of course that meant I am experiencing some additional soreness but that's the price you pay. Otherwise I wouldn't feel like I was getting any benefit from it and if that's the case then what's the point of it all? Also I've decided to forgo the swimming pool (except for Saturdays with my son) and instead will use my heavy bag in the garage as well as walking in the park on my off days, that is unless I have to cut grass in our yard because that is a much harder workout than I'd ever get in the gym.


Even with the additional stiffness and soreness that have come I must admit that after a workout I find myself feeling good, more alert and dare I say, more alive. I'm just hoping that all of the work will pay off with some moderate weight loss soon and then hopefully I can completely get rid of my gut in the months to come. Right now though I'm taking it one workout at a time with a lot of effort and even more hope for a better me. But I'm not totally changing my diet just yet, let's not get too crazy alright?

Published by Don Leach