Becoming a Butterfly

I am going to be part of a weight loss research project for a local university.  And, I just came from my first EKG/heart stress test!  They had all these things hooked up to my chest and stomach.  They were taking my blood pressure, manually every 3 mins.  They had me walking on a mouse wheel…

I mean, treadmill at 3mph…which sounds easy enough…but then every 3 mins they would raise the incline.  By the end of the time, my calves felt like I was climbing Mt Everest

The deal was, I had to get my heart up to 150bpm or do it for 15mins.  Well…I at 13.5 mins…my heart hit it

and I finally got to stretch my calves!  YEAH!!!

They said I did well…and that everything looked ok. 

Before that wonderful workout, I did have to put on one of those lovely hospital gowns…you know the ones with the great view from the back: ) 

And they took my measurements.  The lady was like, “Can you show me where your hips are, so I can measure around them?”  Evidently, I am all hip…or at least I must look like it!  She started poking around my muffin top, looking for my pelvis bone…it was too funny.  She looked like she might be a size 4…she didn’t even know what a muffin top was!

Before I left, they gave me a lovely upper arm bracelet to wear that will monitor my activity level for 8 days!  I only get to take it off when I am in the shower.  Doesn’t that sound attractive?  Good thing I can’t wear sleeveless tops anyway: )

Well, I am just thankful that it is over…for now.  I have to go back every 6 months and do it again.

I will get start the diet on May 1st…and then I will be eating like a Guinea pig.   

For now, I am just focusing on weightlifting, wogging, and blogging!

We had some storms this afternoon.   They passed and I noticed that the sun had come out!  I got up and just started walking up my driveway.  It was incredible, a hint of color at first and then…buuyaaaa!!!!  It was whole and full of color! Then a second one appeared.  Incredible! 

As I got to the crossroads, in my neighborhood, the foot of a cross…so to speak: )  That was where I saw the rainbows in their entirety.  One of my neighbor’s twin daughters was out with her camera.  She said, “I just saw a rainbow, and now God gave me one again.”  She said she needed to hear from God about something, so He told her to go outside…needlesstosay, she was humbled by God’s goodness to her!

The really cool thing is, the first day I went to check out the gym, when I got out to my car, there in the sky was a “sundog”.  It looked just like a mini rainbow.  I hope people don’t think I am weird, but, I started crying…I felt like God gave it to me to encourage me–that this time I was going to really lose weight!

And then today….WOW! 

Last night a friend came over and he prayed with me about my weight.  He is in GREAT shape and takes good care of his body.  I asked him to pray for me, that I would be able to do the same thing!   That God would teach me how to love myself.  

It was a blessing…and then today, to see such a beautiful sign from God!

 As I came down my driveway, the rainbow dissapeared, but I saw a butterfly flying where the end of the rainbow had been, in the tops of the trees.

Does God do that for any of you?  Speak to you through things that are special to you?

In my last post, I talked about ”Wogging”, and someone said they’d never heard of it….so I was thinking, maybe it would be a blessing for some of you if I shared what I have learned about it…so you can be a WOGGER too! 

• What is wogging?     Walk + Jog = Wog!!! 

• Why wog?     It helps you burn more calories than just walking, and it is easier than jogging!

• When to wog?     Once you are walking about 30 mins 3-5 days a week, then you are ready to wog. 

• Why would one want to wog?     If they want to run, eventually.  It helps you transition into running.  I just started, and so I walk for 5 mins and then run for 1.  I keep repeating it until 30 mins are up.  Next week, I will walk for 4 and run for 2.  Each week the jogging increases, AND in 9 - 12 weeks I should be able to run for 30 mins!!!!  YEAH!  

• When to walk and when to jog?      There is an interval training on www.podrunner.com that I use.  It is FREE!!!  Gotta love that!  I put it on my Mp3 player.  There is a different mix for each week and it is upbeat and keeps you going.  The music has a different beat per minute (bpm) for walking, and then running.  When the music changes, and there is a transition tone that signals it is getting ready to change, so you don’t have to look at your watch–or set a timer for every interval.

The first time I wogged, I was nervous all day, so nervous…I waited until it was dark outside.  It was easier and then harder than I thought.: )  At first I thought…oh, I can do this, but towards the end, I was having a hard time!!!  It definitely gets my heart rate up…and I can tell I am getting better.  I can do the whole 30 mins now–and I even did it in front of people at the park and the gym yesterday!!!  

You can start the new one each week or just increase it as you are ready.  The quicker you can change, the sooner you will be running!  I am going to take my time…since I am so overweight…I want to make sure my body can handle it!

I don’t try to cover a lot of ground, I am just going a little faster than walking.   I just focus on trying to increase my heart rate and keep good form.

My goal is to run around a pond at a park where I live.  It is 2 miles around.  When I first started exercising, I could hardly walk all the way around it.  Now, when I wog for the 30 mins, I can go 1.5 miles or so.  

But one day, this caterpillar will have wings and she will fly around it–maybe even more than once!!