Hey There:
About three months ago I took some pictures where I dressed up a la pin up girl, and the result was awful. I was shocked at how old, puffy and fat I looked. Granted the pictures were taken by an amateur at a very bad angle, still I was very shocked and the depression ruined my weekend; but did not completely destroy my ego.
So finally, when I got out of my depression, I decided to do something about it. On the getting old part, I'm already doing as much as I can without having surgery or botox, also I just incorporated facial exercises, especially for the sagging neck area. The other thing I could tackle is the getting fat part.
For my sister's wedding last year I went on a no beer diet for 2 months, didn't do any exercise or other special diets, but it worked even though it was two very boring months.
After that, between October and November I gained almost 20 lbs out of nowhere. This is something that happens every 5 years or so were I make a jump on my weight and no matter what I do, I can't get below that threshold. I wasn't too concerned on my previous weight jumps since I increased to a cup size C and my figure looked very curvy and sexy.
But now after the latest jump I decided not give in. This time it doesn't look cute and I refuse to buy bigger clothing. So by the time I decided to conquer my weight I was already eating better; with the disclaimer that I refuse to give up my daily cup of coke, beer, carbs and occasional fast food. So start exercising it is!
I have my priorities, and exercising cuts into my time for reading, writing, eating, drinking, doing my nails and watching TV. So in a normal day, only my fingers move, so I knew exercise was the way to go. Thanks to the great weather in San Diego, I decided not to spend any money on gyms and just go walking (I loathe jogging), and the Balboa Trails are perfect for that.
The website shows 3 maps with several trails with different levels of lenght and difficulty. I started with the Golden Hill Gateway since it's closer to home for me. At the beginning I could only do the trail that was 1/2 mile long and go around it 2 or 3 times and that was more than enough for me.
After a couple of weeks I began to tackle the trail that goes for 4.4 miles, this has been a gradual process where each time I would go a little further and come back. Let me show you some pictures of the trail scenery.
This is where the adventure begins.
At some parts of the trail, you will be walking near next to traffic, but the trail part has mulch all the way, so it's easy to walk on it.
This is where the nature walk part of the trail begins.
The first big hill where you go up and down using wood steps nailed to the earth.
The trails take you through a dog park, although you can't really see it from this photo. But this is one of those places magazines recommend to go and meet men, that is if you have a dog.
More freaking hills, but at this point I'm still going strong.
I was concerned on this spot, it looked too narrow, with room for only one person at a time and looks very deserted. And as I was hesitating I saw a jogger go through there, so I knew it was the right path.
I love this part, looks very creepy. But the wind blows nicely and it's good shade from the sun.
This hill is the hardest so far, the first time I climbed it I stopped to take a breath twice and spent 10 minutes resting before going back down. Also that first time I saw a guy running it up and down, he said he could do that 10 times.....he was insane.
You see? This horrible hill is a killer!! But some day soon I'll climb it without stopping to take a breath
I have conquered the trail #21, #22 and pretty soon #23. I started out by counting steps with a pedometer, started with 5,000 daily and every week increased it by 500. This pace has worked very well for me and now I don't use the pedometer anymore, I do the entire trail so I know I walk and do some mild hiking for 12 miles each week.
I wish I can say that I lost 50 lbs, am now a size 6 and all that stuff you read in magazines. But I definitely see and feel a difference and will keep at it until it gets too cold and sweaters will hide my shape anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment