My Exercise Ephiphany

Walking on the treadmill is my exercise of choice since starting Core three years ago. I had an old one that had barely been used, and after cleaning it off, I started walking. I really didn't know much about walking or heart rates or anything like that. I just got on and walked about 15 minutes. It wasn't that easy, at first. I weighed almost 280 pounds and I got tired very quickly. But I kept going and kept increasing the time and speed about five minutes a week until I was walking for almost an hour a day at speeds around 2 miles per hour.

Since it was summer, I was also busy outside in the garden, so I got a lot of exercise that summer. . . sometimes too much. I finally decided to cut down on the treadmill on days when I was working a lot outside. Because doing too much would make me too tired to get anything else done the entire day.

I guess I became a cardio junkie. I knew from the diabetes classes that strength training and stretching were essential to good health, but I preferred to depend on mindless walking in front of the TV set. It burned off more calories and I earned more Activity Points and it just made me feel energized for the day. Strength training was often painful, required more conscientious thought, and was practically useless as far as earning Activity Points is concerned.

I tried to do some strength training occasionally—an exercise ball, hand weights, an ab-thigh machine—but the only thing I could manage to do regularly was the treadmill. The other things fell by the wayside whenever I was too busy.

The cardio paid off though, when I had a stress EKO test prior to my gall bladder surgery in 2006. The anesthesiologist told me that I had the "highest" level cardio rating! I was really pumped after that. I had to stay off the treadmill for about six days after the surgery, but I was on it right after that and haven't stopped since.

This spring, however, I read something online that really convicted me about the strength training issue. I decided that I was a cardio junkie and that I should cut down on cardio and to try to get in more strength training. Since you're only supposed to do strength training every other day, I decided to alternate cardio and strength training. And I started with a beginner's Pilates DVD that took about 25 minutes.

I couldn't do much of it at first. I was amazed at how out of shape I was, even after losing nearly 90 lbs. and exercising almost daily. But soon I was doing nearly everything and feeling pretty good about my progress.

The problem is: I had cut down significantly on the treadmill too, and found myself gaining weight. So a few weeks ago, I bumped up the treadmill and decided to do a 50% treadmill routine even on strength training days, since the Pilates routine was so much shorter than the treadmill. I also moved up to the Intermediate Pilates routine, which uses a circle to work more muscles in a short time.

Since school ended, I have bumped up my treadmill to 3 miles a day, and on alternate days when I do the Pilates routine, 1.5 miles a day. I try to get it done in the morning before 8 a.m., because I have found the later I wait to do it, the more likely that it will not get done at all.

Another issue I've had to deal with lately is the incline. I have been putting the incline up to 8 or 9%, but I find I have to hold on to the bar most of the time in order to do that, and it was causing callouses on my hands. So for the past couple of days, I have been walking at a 1% incline and keeping my hands off the bar. I don't really need a pulse readout anymore. In any case, the treadmill heart rate sensor is WAY off compared to my heart rate monitor watch. And I don't really keep track of heart rate much anymore. I just want to keep challenging myself. . . the numbers are meaningless.

But it is a fact that moving my arms while walking burns off as many calories as walking up a steep incline. I may up the incline a bit occasionally, but not enough to make walking uncomfortable.

My weight loss journey has gone up and down over the past three years, but I am convinced that a big reason why I have not gained back the weight is because I have NEVER given up the exercise habit. No matter how "off" I am food-wise, I still got on that treadmill every day and it has kept me going even in the toughest times.