The myth of middle age spread

Disclaimer: This blog will not increase your potential to achieve much of anything and may very well be a waste of your time.

So it begins. I seem to have an abundance of time on my hands, therefore, came up with a plan to accomplish a couple of goals that I've put off for some while. First and foremost is to start a lifetime fitness plan. This plan is the real reason for this blog. I foresee it as an online journal that I can track and hopefully will keep me honest to myself.

Here I am, a 42 year old woman, experiencing that "unexplained" weight gain after the age of 40. I think "unexplained" is a little bogus. I can explain mine...I quit smoking when I was 39 and exercising is, well, strenuous!

Disclaimer #2: I haven't always been sedentary.

In junior and senior high school I was a fairly decent runner - cross-country and track. I joined the Army, ran long distances, regularly, everyday for 17 years, until I transferred to a job not involving direct interaction with soldiers, I lost all discipline. After nearly 5 years of laying around, snacking, and experiencing the joy of couch potatoehood, I've decided to become a little more active.

This starts on day 3 of my activity journey. I've been walking in the morning for about 30 minutes. The plan is to continue this for one week and at that point, start running. A run/walk interval - nothing that I can't accomplish, hopefully building up to level culminating in a *gulp* half-marathon. My timeframe is 12 weeks, but, since my true goal is to maintain some kind of lifetime commitment, I may alter that if I experience the potential for injury.

Until tomorrow...