Boy, Am I Getting Fit, or What?
Not kidding. I've been overweight my entire life, but I've been extremely fit and athletic, and definitely muscular. In high school, one of my nicknames (from the guys on our track team, which I was on, too) was "Brickhouse." I won't tell you what some of my other ones were-- they reflected too much on my character. I'll just say that people who were new to school only messed with me once. Then never again.
Anyway, I lost about 80 pounds about 15 years ago, and didn't start gaining any of it back until about 2 years ago, and boy, did it start coming back! I've had a job the past 7 years that required sitting on my ass 8 hours a day, and had no life to speak of because of the swing shift I worked, so I couldn't even be in league sports like I've always been in. This was Very Hard, because I was such a tomboy when I was growing up, and by high school, I was a hetero girl jock. Volleyball (my favorite-- I got a letter in it), track (another letter), soccer (another letter). Archery, too (letter). Took two PE classes my senior year.
So, sitting and doing NOTHING for 7 years was hell. And I started gaining weight after 5 of them. My muscles started going soft. Lately, going up a flight of stairs has left me breathing a little more heavily than usual. My stomach got flabby and has started showing under my shirts as a bulge over the tops of my pants. Ugh. My upper arms started getting baggy. In fact, last week, before I started working this new department of my job-place, I stood in front of a mirror, stuck my arms straignt out to the sides, and flexed to get rid of the bags under my arms. The right arm got nice and tight. Okay, I'm right-handed, no surprise. But the left arm muscle DIDN'T MOVE! It freaking hung there, all the fat just hanging down in space. I couldn't even feel the flexing. NOoooo!
Well, this new job is PHYSICAL. Physical, physical, physical. I lost 2.4 pounds by the end of the first day. Another 2.6 pounds by the end of the second day. I haven't bothered to weigh myself since then because I'm too tired and don't care anymore.
However, all the bending and lifting and pushing and shoving and hauling and pulling and always, always movingmovingmoving has done something remarkable: I tried the upper arm thing after the 3rd day, and the left arm flab tightened right up! Matches the right arm, now. And the stomach bulge is almost gone, probably from all the bending and straightening and carrying 30and40-pound boxes and trays. The belly is being forced to contract, which it hasn't had to do very often for 7 years. I think my arms are tightening up because I have to repeatedly raise 15 to 20 pounds to above my head level, and I lift 10 to 15 pounds with one hand over and over and over. AND, going up a flight of stairs feels almost like nothing.
Who needs to join a gym when I'm doing all this physical stuff ALL DAY?
Another thing-- my blood pressure was in the stroke range, because of all the stress of not knowing what was going to happen to me when the old place closed, where I'd be sent, that whole emotional roller-coaster crap. Well, it's almost back to normal. I just checked it, out of curiosity, and there it was, still a little high, but gone wayyyyy down.
So, yeah, I have to get up at 3 a.m. everyday to get to work, and I don't get home until almost 7 p.m. because we have split shifts and it's too far to come home and go back, so I stay there, but the people are great (so far), and I'm getting back into condition.
Another thing: The last place I worked, no talking was allowed. In this new place, everyone talks, shouts, sings, laughs, yells. It's a crazy house. It's rushrushrush, because everyone has a deadline, but boy, are we allowed to talk! It's great.
Keith, once my BP is down enough, I'm switching to carrying, like you. I'll like that even more, I think!
Anyway, I lost about 80 pounds about 15 years ago, and didn't start gaining any of it back until about 2 years ago, and boy, did it start coming back! I've had a job the past 7 years that required sitting on my ass 8 hours a day, and had no life to speak of because of the swing shift I worked, so I couldn't even be in league sports like I've always been in. This was Very Hard, because I was such a tomboy when I was growing up, and by high school, I was a hetero girl jock. Volleyball (my favorite-- I got a letter in it), track (another letter), soccer (another letter). Archery, too (letter). Took two PE classes my senior year.
So, sitting and doing NOTHING for 7 years was hell. And I started gaining weight after 5 of them. My muscles started going soft. Lately, going up a flight of stairs has left me breathing a little more heavily than usual. My stomach got flabby and has started showing under my shirts as a bulge over the tops of my pants. Ugh. My upper arms started getting baggy. In fact, last week, before I started working this new department of my job-place, I stood in front of a mirror, stuck my arms straignt out to the sides, and flexed to get rid of the bags under my arms. The right arm got nice and tight. Okay, I'm right-handed, no surprise. But the left arm muscle DIDN'T MOVE! It freaking hung there, all the fat just hanging down in space. I couldn't even feel the flexing. NOoooo!
Well, this new job is PHYSICAL. Physical, physical, physical. I lost 2.4 pounds by the end of the first day. Another 2.6 pounds by the end of the second day. I haven't bothered to weigh myself since then because I'm too tired and don't care anymore.
However, all the bending and lifting and pushing and shoving and hauling and pulling and always, always movingmovingmoving has done something remarkable: I tried the upper arm thing after the 3rd day, and the left arm flab tightened right up! Matches the right arm, now. And the stomach bulge is almost gone, probably from all the bending and straightening and carrying 30and40-pound boxes and trays. The belly is being forced to contract, which it hasn't had to do very often for 7 years. I think my arms are tightening up because I have to repeatedly raise 15 to 20 pounds to above my head level, and I lift 10 to 15 pounds with one hand over and over and over. AND, going up a flight of stairs feels almost like nothing.
Who needs to join a gym when I'm doing all this physical stuff ALL DAY?
Another thing-- my blood pressure was in the stroke range, because of all the stress of not knowing what was going to happen to me when the old place closed, where I'd be sent, that whole emotional roller-coaster crap. Well, it's almost back to normal. I just checked it, out of curiosity, and there it was, still a little high, but gone wayyyyy down.
So, yeah, I have to get up at 3 a.m. everyday to get to work, and I don't get home until almost 7 p.m. because we have split shifts and it's too far to come home and go back, so I stay there, but the people are great (so far), and I'm getting back into condition.
Another thing: The last place I worked, no talking was allowed. In this new place, everyone talks, shouts, sings, laughs, yells. It's a crazy house. It's rushrushrush, because everyone has a deadline, but boy, are we allowed to talk! It's great.
Keith, once my BP is down enough, I'm switching to carrying, like you. I'll like that even more, I think!
Lori finally stopped procrastinating at 12:34 PM
1 Comments:
I'm glad things seem to be working out for you and that an added bonus is the shaping up! I'm do salsa exercises and I must admit that making the effort is worth it as I'm toning up but nothing on the scale that you are. I'm still really a lazy slob! :-)
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