I began exercising more (and more regularly) and, by spring, I finally started to whip my diet into shape. I began counting calories on myfitnesspal.com (a really great site). Then I started cycle commuting. Since I bought my bike in April, I've put roughly 1400 miles on it. In addition to this, I even started running. Well, lumbering quickly, at least. After years of joking about the people in my neighbourhood running for no good reason (no one was even chasing them), I kind of joined them. It took a while to make the change but I started walking less and running more. Now, I can go out and run for 3 1/2 miles without slowing. In October, I did the CN Tower climb in a respectable 23:57. That's 1776 steps. Last year, I would have been gasping for breath after a few flights.
There is no great secret to what I did. It all boils down to four words - eat less, move more.
The November before I started, I went to Vegas. Though I didn't quite realize it then, I came back with a number of not terribly flattering 'before' pics.
For instance, in November of 2010, I looked like this:
Yup. Even trying for a more flattering angle just couldn't hide the fact that I was, uh, big.
Last Saturday, I looked like this:
That's me getting ready for my first 5k run. I'm already signed up for my next one (St. Patrick's Day) and am eyeing up a 10k run for the summer. I think I like it better this way. It's sweatier but more fun.
