Wednesday,
April 23, 2008

Back to throwing the iron around

Huzzah! Today marks my return to weightlifting, and oh dear, where did my upper body musculature go? I know I had some muscles, somewhere...

As shown in this shot (yes, I know it's blurred -- it was taken with my cameraphone), you can see Your Hostess just after finishing 40 minutes of cardio and before she prepares to throw the iron around. Just be grateful you can't see the rivulets of sweat coursing off my brow -- it ain't pretty, folks.

By the way, I'm posting this picture, unflattering as it is, to prove a point -- I am not some slender willow fretting about putting on three ounces after having an extra helping of celery at lunch. I'm a big ol' gal, without a doubt. From the side, I look like a duck. I'm hefty.

And yet I'm in the gym lifting weights, walking on the treadmill and generally doing things that are considered beneficial for my health. Yeah, I know I look nothing like most of the other folks in the gym, and Lord knows I'm not wearing stylish exercise togs. In fact, I think I'm wearing a Dave Matthews Band cap, Windycon t-shirt, cutoff sweatpants, black crew socks and my Dr. Scholl gymshoes in that pic. Fabulous!

Thing is, I'm not there to impress anyone with my fashion sense, and I really don't give a rat's ass what someone thinks when they look at me. I suspect too many people in my condition are shamed into thinking that they can't step foot into a gym, looking the way they do -- the perfect people might point and laugh, after all.

My attitude? "Bite me."

I'm there to sweat, grunt, swear, haul weights, flop my fat around, and perform whatever I need to do in order to build muscles, strengthen bones and keep my heart pumping for years to come. If the perfect people don't like what they see, that's what the gym TV's are for.

Oh, yeah -- despite the fact that I'm a big ol' gal, my resting heart rate is currently 77. Normal is anywhere between 70 - 80. I've had it as low as 65, and I intend to get it even lower this time. And the calves are starting to cut in quite nicely, thank you very much.

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