SueMoe

My 7 Week Round-up of the “Moe’s Big Fat Loser” Competition

I feel like I should’ve been keeping track of my progress since Jan, I meant to. I even started a Twitter acct just for a exercise outlet so my FB friends wouldn’t have to put up w me complaining about aches & pains & motivation problems OR an acct of what I was eating/caloric intake. BUT I was too busy actually working out to document much of anything extra. I also didn’t want to blog about my progress for everyone on FB to read. That seemed just kind of self-obsessed, boring, and … nothing like anything I had ever talked about thus totally out of character and weird. Dance, yes. Exercise? NO.
(Disclaimer: if you feel that is an accurate statement, and think talking about competing in a family weight-loss challenge is narcissistic, don’t read further. It’s as simple as that.)

The first step was to start working out. I thought I could breeze through these 16 weeks (w 3-4 more added now…but I’ll get to that later) by just doing the exercise videos I have from beach body (Turbo Jam & Slim & 6). But I quickly surpassed & grew bored with them. I mean sure, they were still hardish, but they started to feel like work. I soon discovered (around week 3 or 4) that I’d have to (unfortunately) work a little harder.

I realized this when my brother, Jim, started talking about his workouts. They were way harder (and cooler) than mine. He had actually gotten a workout schedule from a trainer!! Our celebrity trainer (my other brother, Dan) had given him a lifting routine, & a running schedule. They seemed to have it all worked out. Plus Jim’s a master chef & seemingly far more disciplined than me in the food department. He intimidated me into knowing I needed to step things up—both to feel it more & to win one of our 2 week mini-competitions.

And let’s face it—this whole competition thing is really the only thing that keeps me going. Thus I decided to take up the hardest thing I could think of to do: running. I’ve always hated running. It brings back memories of brutal “conditioning” training I had received & despised during my 8 years on dance teams. Lifting weights is fun, the results are quickly apparent, & I understand the mechanics/uses of being able to lift heavy things. But running is HARD. (Well, it’s hard if you do it wrong, I’ve discovered. I guess I’ve always done it wrong.) But if I really wanted to kick my own ass - I was gonna have to run.

Here’s how I found a way that worked: on a day that I’d already been out crosscountry skiing & had an exercise video planned…I didn’t really NEED to run. I had the exercise thing covered for the day. But the treadmill was there & my plan for the next hour was to watch Smallville. Why not walk in place for that instead of lying in my bed? Once the pressure was off, RUNNING MADE SENSE. Jim had gone on and on about his running routine (intervals, with increased intensity every minute for 4-5 mins, then starting back at the slow pace), and I thought I would give that a shot. I walked when I started to hyperventilate, ran when I felt rested again, & upped the speed when I felt ambitious (usually coinciding w an exciting part of the episode). And it worked! I walked or jogged for the full 45 mins! (mostly walking) But it worked! I didn’t pass out or puke! (known to happen at dance practice when forced by beefy ex-football players obsessed with lifting to run up & down stairs for waaaaaay too long)

So I’m a runner now, I guess. Albeit a very very slow runner (who normal people call joggers or mall-walkers), but a “runner” by my standards.

Just when I was starting to feel good about this, to get a little comfortable that I was actually running on a treadmill and being that person in the gym that people look at askance and wonder if she’s working out too hard (anorexic) because no one normal runs for 30-45 mins straight, my family decided they’d up the stakes. AGAIN.

WE’RE RUNNING AN EFFING MARATHON. Ok, ok, a HALF marathon. But still. Those are miles and miles of running. Yes, yes it’s strange that I don’t think twice about riding my bike the 7.5 miles out to the airport on a whim, or the 40 miles for the Newman Center bike race … but the thought of running 10k let alone 13.1 MILES is rather daunting. Thanks, family. You suck (and I love you.)

Side note: running in the Fargo Marathon is an idea my old roommate ran by me (pun intended) the week we started the challenge—but I dismissed it out of hand. Seriously, a challenge to lose 55lbs in 16 weeks is surely enough without adding strenuous running into the mix, right? Running for 13.1 miles? Really? Why would I ever do that? Looks like she was right on the money.

I’ll be writing about how my first official training run goes later today. After I take a dance class from a really hot, celebrity choreographer at the Broadway Dance Center. Ah yes. Isn’t unemployment glamorous? (not really at all, but I’m making the most of it. Luckily my family is pretty kick-ass supportive)