Week Fifty-Four of REAL...

Reminders: REAL - Reduce stress Exercise Adequate sleep Lower caloric intake

What Navy SEALs are required to do to make it into BUD/S: http://navyseal.s5.com/requirements.html

RIght up front: Never in a million years could I do what is required. However, I needed to start somewhere. Considering how fit the SEALs are, I figured it was a good place to start. So my SEAL puppy reps consist of girls' pushups, crunches, and flutter kicks, a SEAL training basic. I started with doing one of each. I've worked up to 33 and working at slowing it down.

The 29th: weigh in: 236 lb. SEAL puppy rep. Two-mile walk. SEAL puppy rep. Did not sleep well, last night. Woke up cold, with a charlie horse in my calf. Easily solved with foot circles. I haven't been as careful about taking care of the ankle.

The 30th: weigh in: 237.4 lb. Shoot. Sigh. Two-mile walk and only a third of my physical therapy. Manuscript is due, so editing, editing, editing...

July

The 1st: weigh in: 236.4 lb.

The 2nd: weigh in: 235.6 lb. SEAL puppy rep. Two-mile walk. SEAL puppy rep.

The 3rd: weigh in: 236 lb. One-mile walk. Physical therapy.

The 4th: weigh in: 236.8 lb. SEAL puppy rep. Two-mile walk. SEAL puppy rep.

The 5th: weigh in: 236.8 lb. Waist circumference: 39". No walk. With all the rain, I knew my allergies would be a mess, even with allergy medicine. Still did my physical therapy.

Learned something new about myself, or maybe I knew but didn't want to face. I knew I hid behind my weight. I'm also finally able to admit that sometimes the eating isn't about hiding so much as filling up a space inside. Or maybe even the hiding is about not wanting to acknowledge the space inside...the space where I'm not good enough...something to consider.

The first picture was taken in February 2012. The second picture was taken in June 2012. Inspiration, at least to me: