My summer session of Boot Camp is coming to a close. Friday the 14th is our last day and Saturday will be our picnic and awards. Every recruit gets a certificate for successfully completing the Boot Camp and over the past several sessions, I have received a Most Dedicated Recruit award and the Most Improved Recruit award. If there was an award for Most Insane Recruit, I know I would get it hands down! Hoorah!
The new session of Boot Camp will not begin again until September so now I am pondering what I am going to do in order to stay at the level I am at now and not backslide like I have in the past. I am not one who will exercise by myself. Those two or three weeks between sessions have proven deadly to me purely because of laziness and food.
Yes I am lazy. I admit it. I would prefer to stay in bed until 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. rather than get up at 5:00 to be at the YMCA at 6:00 to exercise. On top of that, most of my work days are a minimum of ten hours and most times longer due to my work load. My mom says, “Sissy. Evidently you spend too much time fooling around or you would be done your work.” I think she still believes I am in grade school. In addition to my job, I do my husband’s bookkeeping for his business and try to find time to sew or craft which is my attempt at staying sane! In the past, I have not been able to continue to exercise during the interim of Boot Camp. I am determined that this time, I will not let myself drift back into bad exercise habits. Lord, give me the strength to get up when the alarm goes off!
Food is my big downfall during the interim time. Exercising and food go hand in hand. You see, when I am exercising hard, I feel the pain and all those aches and pains are a constant reminder to stop when I go to eat something I shouldn’t. Food glorious food! Stress adds to that call of food.
Call of food? Yes. Food calls me my by name. It is up close and personal and often screams at me. It calls me from the racks of the grocery store. It calls me from my kitchen cupboard. It calls me from the candy jar at work.
I try hard to stick to the outside walls of the grocery store where I can ignore the bad things but then I have to check out. I hear little hisses as I stand there waiting to check out. “Pssst. Pssst.” I look and I see no one. I look at the clerk silently begging her to hurry up as I try to ignore the sounds and then I hear, “Psst….you know you want me. Pick me up. I’ll make you feel better. Psst. Here I am.” I struggle hard and keep my head forward and break out into a sweat but then, it must be a close friend calling me because I hear it call me by my nickname, “Sissy. I’m here. Get me!” I turn to see who it is and my heart is immediately filled with horror and desire at the same time! There it is. The dreaded chocolate! The worse culprits are peanut butter cups. When I am stressed I want to feast on delights such as peanut butter cups until I am in a sugar induced trance. Is there anything better? If you are in the grocery store during the next few weeks and you see a lady sweating in the check-out line who looks like she is in a trance and you hear her mumble, “Yeah though I walk through the aisle of death, I fear those pounds. My arm reacheth over to chocolate. My strength is fading,” just reach over and hit her with your rod or staff as she picks up the peanut butter cups. At that point, you will have realized that you have just been introduced to ME!
Can I survive the interim period? I honestly do not know. One of my greatest desires is to be able to afford a personal trainer during those weeks that I am off. Maybe one day I can make it my first priority. Right now I cannot. Life’s other demands have to come first.
In the meantime, I have told the editor that I did not know if people were bored reading about my struggle with obesity and maybe I should end the series. It has been good therapy for this 54 year old obese lady to put it out to the public and I am humbled by the outpouring of support that I have received. I only write what I know and what I experience. Life as an obese woman is not an easy life. Hopefully I will share more of my experiences with you and you will want to hear them. Please let me know how you feel about the continuation of the series.
I am a 54 year old obese recruit in the YMCA Boot Camp and I know for a fact that I still need to be there!
NOTE - Healthy Eating Seminar by Oshun that is open to the public at the YMCA on August 20th at 7 p.m. Cost is $15 to non-YMCA members and $10 to members. Please register ahead of time by calling the YMCA at 305-248-5189. See you there!
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