So. Many. Steps.

The post title pretty much sums up how I feel about this process. There are so many steps to getting healthy. I've neglected my health in so many ways that it is going to take time and effort to really turn things around. When I stop to think about how much there is to do I get overwhelmed, so I am simply choosing to take it a little bit at a time.

Over the past year or so, I've grown accustomed to a pretty sedentary lifestyle. In fact, I have gotten to the point where it hurts to stand for very long. I get easily fatigued. This is frustrating and hurts many areas of my life. I can't run and play with my kids like they need and deserve. I am missing out on so much because of my selfish lifestyle. But I am changing.

I started pushing myself to be more active about two weeks ago. I started by walking my first-grader to school every morning. We live a few blocks from her school. This walk, which should be easy for someone my age, was actually really tough for a while. My legs would hurt and I would be severely winded from the exercise. It gradually got a little easier. After a few days, I started adding some time to my walk after dropping her off. At first, I would walk for just a few minutes and then would have to stop and rest before heading home.

As of Monday of this week, I have been walking for about thirty steady minutes each morning after dropping my daughter off (except for Wednesday, when directionally-challenged me got lost and ended up walking in circles. I got in almost 60 minutes that day just trying to find my way home). For the first half of this week, my legs and feet hurt badly and I would have a bit of chest pain to work through at the beginning of each walk. By today, my legs are hurting much less and I didn't notice any chest pain. I feel a little better every day, and even feel my mood lifting a bit.

Is this all easy? No. Would I rather stay in bed most days? Absolutely. Is it getting easier? A little bit at a time. Do I expect amazing results right off the bat? Heck no. I'm realistic. It took time to get to the point I'm at and I know that it will take time to get to where I want to be. I'm not focusing on my weight right now; I'm focusing on getting to feeling better. My goal with walking is to work my way up to being able to walk for 60 minutes at a time without it being too difficult. Then I will be ready to move on to some personal training. I plan to add ten minutes every other week as I feel comfortable. That's a lot of steps!

I've also decided that I should get a "base" reading of where I'm at now, so that I can better see my results after some time has passed. On Monday morning I will be going to have a personal fitness test at the Hays Recreational Center. This should help me have a better idea of where I'm starting from, especially since I haven't even looked at a scale in over a year. I will post my results next week. I plan to post about twice a week, so I hope you'll keep up with my progress. I really appreciate everyone's support and words of encouragement! Have a great weekend.