Taking That “First Step”

A commercial for the anti-inflammatory drug, Celebrix, that’s currently running on TV uses the phrase “a body at rest stays at rest but a body in motion stays in motion.” While mainly considered a principal of physics, this also applies to exercise. 

The key to having more “get up and go” is to get up off the couch and go for a walk or some other kind of physical activity. I have learned that over the last 2 ½ years since my surgery. I feel better physically and can handle things better mentally when I make walking, bike riding or, some other kind of exercise part of my weekly routine.

But over the last 6 months I have for all intents and purposes cut exercise out of my life. Not really enjoying walking with my dogs in the dark and being unable to ride my bike in the cold winter weather are two of the main reasons. I have a stationary bike in the house but I haven’t used it in nearly 9 months.

But as of today the time for staying “at rest” has come to an end. I have lofty physical goals for myself this year. I want to take a long bike trip (20 miles or more) come spring time. One of my goals for this year is to run a 5K. I plan on playing Ping Pong on a regular basis once our new church family life center gym is opened. Also (don’t tell my wife this) I’m still haunted by the idea of trying to roller skate again.

Now I know these goals are not things I’m going to be doing just as soon as the warm weather returns the end of February or early March. It’s going to take me a while to build up to them. But today, much to my dogs’ delight, I took my first mile walk of 2012.

Knowing that I am going to have to start sooner or later I chose to try a little bit of running (or what passes for running for me right now) during the walk. It wasn’t very far maybe 20 yards at the most; and it was more of a slow jog rather than a run. It wasn’t even enough to even get winded.

The “sprint” of the test was to see if I could actually go faster than a walk without dragging and tripping over my left foot. The first test proved “successful” I will try again for a longer distance in a few days.

So there’s my first step. I’m on my way to achieving my goals: Losing the rest of the weight I want to lose and succeeding in the physical challenges set before me.

Have you taken your first step? If so what was it? If not what could it be? When are you going to take it?

Now that I’ve started my exercise journey again I’m not going to stop until I cross my personal finish line. 

It’s 2012. Time To Move Forward

Have you noticed some things are missing? That’s right,  the posts I wrote last year when I started this blog are gone. I have decided to clean the slate and start again.

I have been inspired by my daughter in law’s new blog. She’s made a list of her goals for 2012 and is holding herself accountable for working toward achieving them by blogging about them.

Finding myself identifying with her effort and having the time to gain perspective on my 16 posts from last year has led me to the decision to “reboot” the purpose and content of “Getting To My Goal”.

One of the my favorite Walt Disney quotes is “Keep Moving Forward”. I know that may seem contradictory for me to claim, considering that I am always reminiscing about the past in all my blogs.

However I do believe that it is time to move forward on this blog. I am going to make it a forum for a positive attitude and a vehicle for success. While my previous approach was intended as a “cleansing” exercise, the lamenting confessional it became really had a negative effect on me.

So starting today I will trumpet my successes and mention my downfalls; but only as a means of learning from them. I will still need your support and welcome any positive feedback you have to offer. I will use it to encourage me.

With that explained let’s get to establishing once again where I want to go.

I still want to reach the goal weight I have set for myself, 175 pounds. If I stay on the “straight and narrow” I can reach that goal by the end of the year. As of today there are 50 weeks before New Year’s Eve 2012 and 34 weeks before my 52^nd birthday. I have weight loss goals for each of those dates; but they are too far away to focus on right now. So I’m going to start by concentrating on one week at a time. My weekly goal is to lose 2 pounds. That’s very reachable goal but it will take effort to be consistent.

I am going to go back to eating a lot of the foods and applying the same behaviors that helped me lose successfully for the first year after my surgery.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about expanding my exercise horizons as well. I haven’t done anything about that yet but once I do I’ll post about it.

I can’t dismiss the importance of including my wife as my partner in this new start. We are both looking to getting aboard on the “losing weight and being healthy” train again. This time we are not going to get off until we reach our destination.

That’s the way we have achieved the success we have had up until now. We’ve done it as a team and that’s how we are going to continue to be successful.

So to paraphrase an adage that was popular several years ago (read that “decades”) today is the first day of the rest of the year.  

So thanks for coming back and reading my new and improved “Getting To My Goal” blog. If you are someone who wrote to me and told me that you identify with a lot of the things I wrote about when I started posting back in November of last year. Don’t worry I’m sure I’ll continue to write about things that you see in yourself. 

After all if there’s one thing I’ve found over the last couple of years. The battle to lose weight is a very common one. All we have to do is be willing to admit it and support each other on our way to our goals. I hope you’ll help me with mine.

Now let’s restart this journey of “Getting To My Goal” with a first step. I’ll write about that next time.