What the Doctor Ordererd....

Good Wednesday evening... At least, that's when I started typing this post. I can't guarantee I'll publish on time, but ya never know.

Oh, and this is not a scrappy post. There are no pages to share down below; just a few photos of my accomplishments and my son.

There were accomplishments today. Backtrack to Monday, I had a physical with my new doctor. Totally blog worthy, huh? I know, but it was a good interaction with her. We talked about eating properly and being more active. This made me love her on the spot. My former doctor never once discussed my weight and lack of healthy living. He always laughed it off when I opened the door to do exactly that.

She, on the other hand, noted my desire to exercise more often, but lack of ability to follow through. So she gave me an oral prescription (and I adored her Indian accent as she did it): Exercise three to four times each week, at least 30 minutes each time. Not earth shattering for me. There was a time in my life when I'd spend 2 or three hours at the gym, three to five days each week. I was spinning. I was stepping. I was lifting. I was yoga-ing. I was awesome. Eventually, I was also exhausted. Then, I was pregnant.

I digress. My point was, I do enjoy exercise. I also have a hard time committing to it now because I'm (to an extent) at the whims of a three year old child. Sometimes I can bribe him with a cup of cocoa once we get home. Sometimes I can't. Some days he wakes up toooooooo early for my liking and I'm in pain and nausea for the rest of the morning. Some days, I'm just in pain and nautious because I'm alive.

Today was a special day. Despite my child's 4 AM wake up call, I got some laundry done. I started cleaning the Living Room (like deep cleaning). Today I showered. Today...I got exercise. I had to do it on the sly, but I got it done, damnit!

Today, I raked leaves!

Did you know that you (or I, because I only tracked it for my current weight) can burn about 180 calories by raking the lawn for 30 minutes? That's not bad! It might not look like much to some, but this is what I accomplished today:



As you can see, my son also accomplished a bit, too. The planets aligned and he was all about "helping" me rake the leaves this afternoon. He was also all about dismantling the pile as he saw fit.





There's another reason I'm pretty proud today. About a year ago (give or take a month) I tried raking leaves. Over the course of three days, I got about half the back yard done...with a lot of breaks to catch my breath and regain my focus. A year ago, I was over 40 lbs heavier. A year ago, as I took one break, I heard an ambulance siren coming closer to my home. I knew it wasn't coming for me, but they way I felt physically...It wouldn't have been out of the question.

So, today I raked. I huffed. I puffed. But I didn't get knocked down

I'm on my way, baby.

I'm on my way. And this is good because the leaves are far from done falling. We are surrounded by a dozen trees that look a lot like this tonight: