From the Blogposts » inbox
The strangest thing is happening because of my hardcore exercising now. Just to be clear, before March, if there was something physical to do to help someone, I had breathing problems or back pain. Both were true, but not truly keeping me from lifting a finger. Since being compliant, that has changed, but being labeled as “active” has not. Here’s what I look/sound like after our 4th session:
Two things happened after starting walk/runs:
We had quite a few things to do today, so I got my exercise in one way or another. It was a sunny, but very breezy 68 degrees in Tampa today, and we just so happen to have an outdoor mall here. It’s just like a regular mall with cool custom storefronts and courtyards and kiosks, only there is a road running down between them all with “city sidewalks” on either side to go into the stores… and there’s no roof. It’s lovely, this time of year; not so much in June, July, August, September!
We parked on one end and pretty much scoured one department store, both levels, and walked all the way to the other end of the mall and went from one end of it to the other, and then ended in the middle department store before heading back to the car by the first store. By the time we were done, my feet were sore because I was wearing my dress shoes with 1.5″ heels! Beautiful asked why I was breathing so loud, but I was doing a lot better than usual. No walking-related spazzes.
As the day went on, I felt tighter and tighter, but it wasn’t for lack of treatments, that’s for sure. Who wants to know the regimen I’m on?
Medical update: I am sending my daily food diary along with the number of meds I'm taking for digestion to the dietician to see if she can figure out why I didn't gain any more weight this week despite eating 32,485 Calories in the last 7 days. That doesn't come cheap!
We started my exercise routine today. My wife said she’d be willing to get up any time or drop anything to exercise with me to know that I’m exercising and visually improving. It wasn’t much of a walk, but it was a start. We trotted off to the mailbox about 1/4 mile away and made a full loop around the neighborhood on the way back, so we put in about 3/4 of a mile and saw just how many townhomes in our development have lock boxes on the doorknobs!
I’m not comfortable pushing it just yet, because I can feel that my lungs feel more like plastic than rubber, if you know the feeling. I sit at the computer and work all day, so the only deep breaths I take are when I’m coughing. Without those deep breaths, it feels like my lungs have taken on a “use it or lose it” mentality of their own. It feels like I’m only breathing with the top 1/3 of my lungs and my diaphragm can’t pull air down any further just yet.
The goal is to get there. Then the goal is to start jogging. I was on the track team in Jr. High, so I know if I can get back to that stage, my wife will have a hard time keeping up, because I was darn good for my stature. Yup, I just threw down the gauntlets.
CF Fatboy resides in FL. He and Beautiful have been married for 10 years, have two adopted sons, and are loving their choice to change the course of the boys' lives from their previous trajectory.