On Thursday, 2rings, our son and I went for a walk/bike ride in the park. At first I was able to keep up with 2rings stride and felt strong and capable. As I started jogging as part of my 5K training - I started experiencing really painful shin pain (shin splints?) that forced me to stop running. It's probably because I need new shoes - but its also largely due to the fact that I am 100+ pounds over weight and that is a lot of pressure to put on my legs and feet. I was getting extremely frustrated and disappointed in myself. I'm really committed to this and I am trying to push myself as hard as I can and not being able to jog is really hard on me. 2rings was great support and continued to give me a lot of encouragement and praise. He suggested I stop running for now and focus more on walking and speed walking until I start losing weight - making jogging easier eventually.
On Saturday, I went out for a walk by myself. Again, I tried pushing myself and jogged as much as I could - which wasn't much. I probably walked more than I jogged. Again - very frustrated with myself! I came home upset, frustrated, disappointed and feeling like a failure.
Today, 2rings and our son rode their bikes, and our daughter and I wallked to a nearby neighborhood, had lunch at our favorite sandwich shop and walked back. It was a total of 3.3 miles round trip, uphill the way there, and it was in the 80's and sunny today. It was hard, it was tiring, and it was the farthest I have walked in a LONG time! But - I am proud of myself (and my family) for doing it!!! AND - when we got to the sandwich shop - instead of each of us getting our own sandwiches like we usually do - 2rings and I shared one and the kids shared one. That is one of the small changes that we, and I specifically, need to change.
We have not been good role models, health wise, for our children. We are both very overweight, eat out a lot, and eat junk food. Luckily our daughter LOVES vegetables and is at a good weight. Our son, is a pretty picky eater, and is very skinny. So while I know that what we teach them will follow them the rest of their lives, so far, it hasn't negatively affected them weight wise. The last few weeks we have been much, much more active than usual - and I hope we continue to do physical things as a family like we did today!