Invisible Illness Week: Committing To Exercise Can Be A Bitch!

National Invisible Illness Awareness Week Continues - And invisible illness or not, committing to exercising can be a challenge - So I've decided to commit to moving - as in having my body in motion instead - Because it's just easier.
###

So exercise and I have had commitment issues over the years.

There was a time I exercised a lot.... Like daily. 

And I had the body the prove it - Seriously, there was a few years where I was the proverbial Brick House.

And there were times when I didn't work out - And I had the body to prove it - I was more like a Pillsbury built house.

Current status: The Temple of Kelly is somewhat doughy in certain areas, but with a solid brick foundation - give or take a few cracks. 

The past few years I've managed to stay somewhat active, but I'm still not exercising as much as I should - both for my mind and my diabetes.

Basically: It's been a real bitch for this Bitch to commit to exercising. 

 I let life get in the way of working out and when I would start to focus on working out, I found myself getting so caught up in how many calories I needed to burn and inches and pounds that I needed to lose that exercise became daunting -And broken toes and Metatarsalgia didn't help!

After losing my mom, focusing on anything became difficult. 

My primary focus was dealing with the loss of her in my life, dealing with the estate and cleaning the house out to be sold. 

By the time the house was sold, cleaned out and I'd moved into a new place (and all within six months of her death,)  I was exhausted - both mentally and physically. 

When I wasn't working, I spent a lot of time crying  - and exercise was the last thing on my mind.

This past summer I swam and body surfed every weekend and managed to fit in a few weekly walks- which made feel like I was doing something, but it also made me realize that I was way out of practice when it came to cardio. 

I also knew that genetically speaking, I needed to workout more because not only does type 1 diabetes run rampant in my family - so do heart attacks and strokes... So there's that. 

And while my cholesterol numbers are damn good - and better than most people 5 years younger and without diabetes or a family history of heart disease, I still have to be aware. 

I also have it on very good authority that I need to be an overachiever in that area, thanks to my said family history. 

Exercise is a way to become an overachiever in cardiovascular area, even if I wasn't going to become an overachieving athlete. Am I making sense? 

I knew I needed to recommit myself to working out 4 days a week, 45 to 60 minutes each of the four days. 

So I decided that instead of focusing on calories burned, miles walked, cycled, or swam, my focus would be on moving four days .... and 45 to 60 minutes each of those four days. 

MOVING has become my focus.

My neighbor filled my bike tires up with air and I bought a a spiffy new white basket with purple, pink and yellow flowers for my bike - very popular with the 6 to 9 year old set, btw.

It was official: I no longer had had the tandem excuses of having no air in my tires or no where to hold my diabetes accoutrement. And then I started peddling.

And so far I've managed to workout 12 out of the past 19 days for a total of about 15.5 hours.

Now a few of the workouts were long, but the majority of the days, the workouts were between 45 and 75 minutes in length.

 I try not to think about miles cycled (though this weekend I rode 13 miles in two days,) or walked - even thought I'm the first one to mapquest my total workout distance. 

I just tell myself that on certain days and at certain times I will be moving, in the form of  walking, biking or swimming for 45 to 60 minutes.  
I prepare my temporary basal rates accordingly, grab a larabar and some glucose tabs and I hop to it. 

Afterwards, I feel tired, but I feel good. And for the most part, my blood sugars have benefited as well. 

So for now I'm just going to keep moving  - And hopefully other things in my life will move in the right directions as well. 

Pedals to the metal - And spiffy new basket ~