It's like riding a bike

When I was younger, riding a bike was life.  We lived on a very remote back country road with very little traffic.  As a result, my parents did not worry about my brother and I straying half a mile down the road.  The road was hilly, as was our yard, and we learned to ride by balancing the bike as momentum carried it to the bottom.  Over time, we rode so much, we became experts at riding without hands and when we tackled large hills like the ones at the state campgrounds, it was nothing.  I'm certain I owe that little girl and her love of riding to why my weight stayed under control when I was younger.  When I became a teenager, however, we move to another country home, but one that was on a major state route with a  lot of traffic.  Combined with a teenage routine, after school programs and work, I no longer went camping and my bike began to collect dust in our garage.  This is where it has stayed for years.  I am now 32 years old and I'm ashamed to admit I have not been on a bike since I was 21 or so.  Even then, it was a very short lived situation since my bike was taken accidently taken by another staff member at a boy scout camp and not returned till the end of summer. 

Now that I am working on my health, I decided it was time to dust off a bike and give it another go.  I loved riding a bike when I was a kid and I hope it will be one of the sources to help me reach my goals.  I chose one of the bikes from my parent's garage that seemed in the better shape than the rest and brought it to a bike shop locally that fixed a couple parts and made sure it could be ridden.  I have stared at it through my sliding window now for several weeks and finally took it out yesterday.  It was not a grand occasion.  I was shaky at first, but once I trusted myself, I did very well.  I didn't crash!  I met up with my friend Amy Jo at one of the Metro Parks with a bike trail and we did a little over 2.3 miles.  It was about all my knees and butt could handle the first time out.  We had to make frequent stops to adjust my seat and give my knees a rest.  I could feel my legs shake whenever I put them on the ground for a moment.  Much like when I started walking again, it's going to take some time for my body to adjust to the new movement and stress I'm putting on muscles that I hadn't worked for years.  While I feel it in my legs today, it's not as bad as I thought it would be.  My butt is feeling it the worst.  Eventually once the weight really comes off and the muscles adjust, that too won't be a big deal. 

I have been putting off weighing myself and doing my measurements this month because I knew May was not a good month.  While I did walk and did fairly well as eating right, I ate out far more than I should have and walked far less than what I was capable of.    I also did not keep my commitment to taking my medication daily.  All these things I intend to fix in June.  I don't have the financial funds right now to eat out regularly anyway and PJ is continuing to partner with me on paying half of what I spend on food we jointly eat during the week.  As the days get hotter heading into summer, I'm glad I now have another option for working out.  Riding a bike will be less miserable some days than walking with no wind and a hot sun beating down.  I will have to invest in a helmet though.

I am proud of myself for facing new things continuing to find ways to work on my health.  My May numbers reflect a bad month, but this is part of the reason I don't weigh often.  The numbers would have caused my motivation to really tank and I would not be going into June with hope and determination.

Starting out for June, some of my numbers did increase. My weight is up several pounds (but I'm not focusing on that.)  My neck, hips, upper arm, and calf measurements did not change.  The only gain I saw, besides my weight, was in my chest by half an inch.  Surprisingly, I still saw an inch loss in my stomach and upper leg, and you better believe, I'll take that!  Maintenance is better than gain and two measurements still being down is better than no change at all.