Exercise

I could not shed a pound to save my life. I jogged and walked and went to kickboxing, step classes, yoga...I did not lose one pound.

Okay, so I'm just another mom in her forties struggling with weight. Yawn. BUT, I have lost 15 lbs. over the past 5 months because I did a little research and discovered what I was doing wrong. For so long I thought I could lose weight if I just had the right groove going. Eat a little less, lay off the ice cream, get to STEP class on Saturdays...nothing major. Yet, I continued to gain....and gain, and gain. I thought, perhaps, that my body was somehow different from others of my species. I was the one who broke all the rules...a medical anomaly!!

Then, I found out my Body Mass Index (BMI). Well, I didn't, the computer did. Then I found out about my target heart rate and my calorie needs. Due to my mid-forties metabolism, my body needs way less food than I had been enjoying..And, I had not been exercising vigorously enough or often enough. It was a sad, sad day.

A healthy BMI is 25. Mine was.....higher.

And the cardio machines were consistently showing a heart rate of between 120 - 130 beats per minute. I needed to get up to 141 and maintain it for 30 minutes!! That meant breathing hard and sweating. Yikes.

So, I started eating even less, but still leaving room for occassional favorites, and I am now on a first-name basis with the fitness staff at the Y. AND...I started going to Spinning classes. The last time I had exerted myself that much, physically? Maybe giving birth. Maybe.

I have yet to reach my goal, but I've got a plan and except for a brief holiday eating/drinking frenzy (can you say pomegranate martini three times fast??), and unsurprising setback, I have been making slow steady progress. Like my friend here.