August 6, 240.2. Jogging

Still a sliver above 240, two days left until weigh-in, when I hope to be at least a sliver below 240.

My sides are sore from yesterday's yoga, and I noticed the backs of my legs seemed to have tightened up. I was feeling so physically prepared and eager to exercise. I won't say I felt more energetic so much as less heavy and sluggish - I feel like gravity's doesn't affect my legs so much. I thought about doing yoga again, but instead wound up doing a bit of jogging. I actually hate going down stairs as much or more as going up stairs, but going down the stairs today I really felt more physically fit, more free from gravity, light and airy (comparatively, of course!)

I set out on a walk - I expected the weather to be hot and humid judging from the Facebook status updates of my fellow townies, but I just thought it was a fine summer day - hot and only slightly humid, but not at all overwhelming. I don't know when I developed this greater tolerance for heat and humidity compared to the rest of my society. I used to be a winter girl - now I prefer the lively heat of summer to the deadly cold of winter.

I live at the bottom of a big hill, so the route in my complex tends to be - up the big hill, over a short flat way, down the big hill, and back over a short flat way. I noticed that going up the hill, which was always a real struggle, was hardly a struggle at all. When I got back to the bottom of the hill, I decided to try my jogging. About a year ago I was doing some jogging and had actually built up to something, I don't actually remember how much. I feel like this morning I could easily have done two laps - almost half a mile - but I only did one because experience reminds me that jogging puts great strain on various parts of the body and they may not give you a sign of it until later, so you must take it slow - that's my opinion and my experience. I'm sure my plantar fasciitis of 2005 was made much worse by the fact that I was so abruptly stopped from my jogging routine of over a mile. At around 260 pounds, I believe, maybe more.

My breathing did begin to get rhythmic and deep, and I did spit out a layer of mucusy film that tends to come up from my lungs when I get jogging breath - a good sign that I'm cleaning out my lungs. But all in all it was a very easy "workout" - a simple short walk for 1 lap, a jog for 1 lap, another walk for 1 lap.

See, my brother has decided to start jogging recently, and he did so (he described it as 'pathetic' - he's never really had obesity issues and is quite skinny right now (despite what his cheeks would lead you to believe) but he's a heavy smoker and drinker and has never really attended to his physical health very much, so it's a bit of a surprise for me, a pleasant one as I always tried to encourage him into exercise to battle his depression when exercise was doing such good things for me in my 20s.

So, anyway, he inspired me, on top of just feeling so physically capable today.

The other thing about the jog... though it felt like a minor jog... I felt menstrual afterwards, and remembered that a hard jogging/running session often wound up with me feeling menstrual. I didn't remember whether this was actually a sign that I was pre-menstrual though. I've typically been irregular so I'm never really paying attention to when my period's supposed to come. But, the positive thought associated with this is that I could simply be on a pre-menstrual plateau, and once I get my period, the scale will start to really drop again. (Isn't that what happened when I abruptly dropped from 250 to 240? Can't remember.)

I've always loved jogging, and my feet didn't bother me at all! It's a great time to start jogging again - warm summer, pleasant fall approaches. If I intend to jog in the winter, though, I need to buy some clothes. Which is not a pleasant thought considering I'm NOT MAKING ANY MONEY!!

Oh, and speaking of that... are my size 20 jeans too baggy in the butt again?

I've noticed a couple people out there - apples, you know. Not overweight, so possibly a sign of what I can expect when I lose weight. Skinny legs and butt, bigger on top. There's only so much you can control and maybe I'm not designed to have a waist - we'll see. We'll just see.