Weight Loss Update

Hi everyone! I know, I go a month without a darn thing and then I get some time and go bananas on posting. Frustrating, I know, trust me- I irritate myself with it. 

So I almost gave up on ever trying to jog. Seriously. I was ready to throw in the towel. Then I said "One more try." What a difference. I'm so happy I didn't give up. 

See, I asked a coworker for help. He's someone that is approachable and easy to talk to. Great sense of humor. And people trust him. 

He actually gave up one of his lunch breaks to help me out- how generous is that!? We met at the gym (I was waiting on him. See, if he has to wait on you, he makes you do pus ups, I'm not about to do push ups, I detest them.) 

He first started out all about the right stretches. Surprise- I was doing that wrong. He got me to do stretches for the entire body. I still forget one every now and then again but I'm still working at it. I stretch my entire body- from head to toe. One tip? Go slow and easy- don't over stretch. Just stretch until you feel it and then hold it for a few seconds and slowly return to normal. 

Next, we went outside. Yup, outside- no treadmill. A treadmill is doing the running for you. He said that running outside is like doing twice the distance of a treadmill. I'd say so! 

My form was awful. He got me to ease into jogging. Basically, it's like you're walking fast. My stride is super short (short legs = short stride.) 

What is your normal walking like? How far does your gait extend? For me, not far at all. So we were walking and when he said speed it up, I did what everyone else would do- my stride lengthened. He stopped me. Bad, Ashley. He told me that I should just turn over my footsteps more. Not lengthen my stride, just go- faster. 

So I started going faster until I was jogging. He said that I should be able to talk a little bit. As I should have been able to but I was giving him one word answers. That's all I was able to get out of myself right then. 

He also taught me a breathing technique- try breathing in and out of your nose. Harder than it seems, really. Or if I must, breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. I'm still getting the hang of it. 

After jogging, stretch again. Same stretches or at least what is normally sore- my legs. 

This past Saturday, February 23rd, I, Ashley was able to job for 2.5 minutes at a time. I jogged for a total of 10 minutes out of 30. I was smiling after doing all of that- I'm doing it! (This is when I was only able to do it for 1 minute at a time and was in pain.)

Hardy was right, "Listen to what your heart is telling you, not what your body is. Your heart is telling you that you want to keep going while your body is telling you that it hurts and to stop. The pain is temporary- listen to your heart." 

I'm so glad I listened. I'm so proud of myself. 

Thank you, Hardy,

A.