Short of Breath

By Guest Blogger Jeanne Adams

Earlier this summer, I realized I was short of breath. Now before you frown too much, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t like ME either. By nature, I’m an active (verging on hyperactive), extroverted Tigger-type. Which means, I was never heavy as a kid, nor as a young adult. In fact, I’ve only been over my “typical” weight levels twice in my life.

Now is the second time. The first time was in my twenties when my life fell apart. In the space of 45 days, my mother died, my marriage ended, I moved, and my now-thankfully-ex-husband left me thousands upon thousands in debt. It was the same month as my birthday and Christmas too. Ick. I cried a lot. I ate to fill the emptiness. The worst for me though, was that I didn’t move. I sat. I stared. I worked. I went home.

Not a lot else going on.

As I began to heal, I realized I was in my twenties, and short of breath. WHAT?? How could I, the quintessential bounce-out-of-the-chair-in-meetings gal be overweight, breathless? Well, sitting and thinking and moping will obviously do that to a body.

I tried yoga, aerobics, swimming, biking and all manner of other things. I discovered a very important thing. I really, really, really don’t like to sweat. I also don’t like chlorine hair. So vain! Unfortunately, even doing yoga makes you sweat if you do it right. If you want to move muscles and burn fat and gain health, you’re gonna sweat. Bummer.

It took me months, and dozens of false starts. Then, one day, I walked into a Tae Kwon Do studio.

Within two years, I was told, I could have a black belt. Wow. Cool! Engage brain AND body…I like it!

The first day of class was painful. There were push-ups in the warm-up routine. The 8-year-old kid in the green belt next to me was pounding them out. I couldn’t do any. It was two weeks before I managed one full, military-style push-up and made one lap around the dojo without huffing and puffing. When I resigned the dojo to move to D.C. just shy of two years later, I could easily do 25 push-ups, circle the dojo ten to fifteen times before I was breathing hard, break boards, and drop a man twice my size. I made it to high-red – a step below black.

Fast forward to now. Short of breath again. A move, a marriage, a decade full of fabulous life with two kids and two books out. Problem is, the fertility-drug-induced and pregnancy weight gain, plus a lot of sitting to write books has caught up with me. No excuses though, since my youngest child is nearly five and I don’t write 24/7.

I needed to lose 25 pounds. And I needed to not be short of breath.

Time to start, I decided, with what I knew. So, I did one push-up. I drank more water than Diet Coke. I took a walk around the block.

The body is pretty amazing. It remembers. I have my Tae Kwon Do handbook. I’m doing the forms – the patterned movements. I started Karate in between books. I don’t get to class much, but I do the forms.

Author Mike Dooley in his book Infinite Possibilities says that the body knows it’s ideal weight and it knows how to get there, if you’ll just be still and listen. I’m listening. I’m doing push-ups. I’m walking. I’m breathing. I’m moving.

I don’t need The Biggest Loser. All it took was being short of breath to remind me that if I want to sing and chase and yell and whoop and be there for my kids and my fantastic hubby, then I needed to start with one push-up. And keep going.

What was your start? What’s your motivation to keep going? I’m down ten pounds and going for twenty by my birthday in December. Do you have a milestone? I’m hoping that I can finally drop the last five by New Year's. I’m getting there, one push-up at a time. I’m not losing weight, I’m gaining health. What are you gaining by getting fit? I’d love to hear all about it!

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Today's progress:

Calorie intake: 1,420

Exercise: Lots of walking during errands and shopping. Seriously, I should see how many steps it take from the time I walk into Walmart until I walk out. Some dancing around while I was uploading '80s music to my iPod for my 20-year high school reunion this weekend.

Steps: 16,157