Update Week 7- Walking Faster Every Day
Weight loss to date -30.2lbs
Trying to quantify how much better I feel on week seven is hard to do. Not because it is hard to find what is improving, but so many things are improving at once. I am now noticing a difference and improvement in all aspects of my health that I can think of. In regards to my mobility the most interesting part is not just how far I am now walking, or how often but how fast.
The Start Point
As I have mentioned before in previous posts when I began this I could not even make it to my mailbox without back pain. My very first walking attempt was to muster the courage to walk around my neighbourhood block. It was the very model of a basic start point, close to home, and not very far. I was very happy with myself to have complete that small walk as it was twice as far then to my mail box. Fast forward only 7 weeks, I am now walking 4km almost every day, and almost every day I am walking faster and with less strain.
Going Faster
When I started this my goal was to move better, live longer, have less health complications. Those goals are still all primary. Right now the focus is not to be able to walk at any specific pace. Having said that, it is certainly encouraging to be able to push myself faster than I have been able to before. It is kind of fun to be passing people on my walks like I am navigating some passing maneuver in a race car. I think it is important to listen to my body with these improvements and on days were I feel I need to slow down I do just that. I am not sure where these increased speed developments are taking me, but I watched someone jogging the other day. That is something very far down the line for me, but I am no longer counting it as impossible.
A Few Things I Have Learned – Some Tips
Good Socks Help
Buy the equipment you need to be comfortable. Good socks, shorts, shoes, whatever your need to feel your best working out. Having quality socks with breathing tops and padded soles have helped a surprising amount reducing foot pain. they are a tad expensive at about $15, but are holding up well and I think will last a long while. You don’t need to break the bank to start exercising, but look after your feet.
Find the Good
Look for all you are achieving all the time. If you focus on one or two things you can feel discouraged. For example if your weight loss stalls you may feel down for a bit but are you moving better each day? Are your clothes fitting better? Are you moving a little slower but you lost a few more pounds? I have even notice my skin colouring has improved for some reason. That is not a metric I thought I would be counting but it is actually nice to see. You can see where I am going with this. I am getting more convinced that changing your lifestyle in this manner improves a great many aspects of ones life. Finding and measuring those success may be a key motivator to a happy successful lifestyle change.
