Back in the saddle

Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, I was in pretty darn good shape for a really fat lady. Not an athlete by any means, but I was able to do a three mile hike that involved climbing in and out of Bryce Canyon. I wasn’t speedy by any means, in fact I clearly remember being passed by a herd of geriatric German tourists, but I did it and I enjoyed it.

For several years I worked out regularly. I got myself from pre-couch potato up to something I consider ‘decent shape’.

Then my adrenals tanked, and my thyroid tanked, and I could either have a good work day, or work out, but not both. It was a very sad thing. And then I moved and had a nice long bout of depression to go with my insular and sedentary life style.

So here I am, with my adrenals more or less supported, my thyroid meds working great, and the time to go work out. Unfortunately, I also seem to be starting from scratch again.

I could choose to be really upset with myself for loosing all the ground I worked so hard for.

Or, I can acknowledge that, as annoying as it is to be here again, the way things worked out, I couldn’t really have managed things any differently. So I can just buck up, put on my big girl…bathing suit, and get back out to the pool, which is the best place for really fat people to start (or restart) exercising. The pool is both aerobic and strength building (at lower fitness levels especially) and it has the advantage of supporting a lot of your body weight while you regain some strength.

A lot of very fat people have hang ups about bathing suits. Here’s the thing. Everyone already knows you’re fat. It isn’t something you can hide. When I’ve suited up to go work out in the pool? I’ve never had anyone ever be anything less than encouraging. Sure, it’s a different story at the beach maybe, but in a work out situation you’re either there, or you’re not there. No one cares what you look like. Just that you show up.

So if you’ll excuse me, I have to go get suited up for water aerobics.