Time: 3 hours

Other activity: 1.45 hrs of serious organizing and cleaning out of spare room, moving a mooountain of junk to clear out.

I checked with mapmyrun and today, in total, I burned 1400+ calories.

1. Walking: Got to 3 hours confidently. After yesterday I felt good, no aches or pains. I knocked my first hour down easily and so far the second hour is turning in to the first. I get through it comfortably (so long as I have work to distract me!). Today was the first time I was able to get to the third hour smoothly. It wasn’t like “oh god, third hour” anymore. That’s now the fourth hour’s honour, to be the ‘oh god’ hour.

2. Decided to either go the fourth hour, or clean out the spare room. We spent an hour forty-five mins doing it, I got grooosss sweaty but I didn’t tired that badly and I know that’s all thanks to my walking.

3. To control my chronic anxiety last October I got spreadsheet-tastic. This was for all my business task-management. It was a great success and slowly this has been filtering out in other areas of my life. Since getting on the treadmill I’ve been addicted to browsing two things on the net:

1. Ikea furniture.

2. Websites that talk about organizing/cleaning your place. I’m a big believer that our environment is reflective of our mental space and I decided to follow through on my bedroom. My bedroom is also my office space and especially now I’ve got my treadmill desk set up I wanted it to feel good, to be a peaceful, positive space.

So yesterday I discarded all these clothes I’d been hanging on to, and today I went through make up and my food cupboard. I’ve done a huge clean out, got rid of things I’ve been holding on to for years. It feels great. I hope this train keeps rolling!

Distance: 11.3km

Oh my lord my feet huuuuurt. Why do they hurt more than usual? Cos at my 8th km I took the dog for a walk. You would think walking is easier but god my body hurt, and my feet were in so much pain. And I’m starving.

I feel great. But in pain. So much pain.

Distance: 11.61kms

Did you know if you go 2.7km/h, that on the 4th hr you’ll have gone 10.8kms? That’s a self inflicted cruelty because I refuse to leave my count so close to 11kms. But when you’ve walked 4 hours in a day, even the smallest amount feels a strain. So I go and have dinner and proper break and all that and wonder if I can even be bothered, but in the back of my mind it won’t let it go. I have to get that last .2 up somehow. It’s actually only about 10 minutes walk. And I probably make it up in the day walking to and from the toilet but still, I just can’t let it go.

DAY 8 STATUS REPORT

So what is day 8 like for an awesome fat treadmill desk walker? Day 8 is incredible. I may be biased due to the fact it’s my birthday.

Lets analyse:

1. My confidence in walking on the treadmill has heightened considerably. The only reason I still feel funny on it is because it’s an old treadmill and I need to lubricate it (waiting for the lubrication pack to arrive in the mail), and it jumps a bit beneath me for the first five minutes or so until it warms up. After that? Totally fine. Should I get a better treadmill I expect this issue to disappear.

2. I now walk and work on the computer no problem. I even do work in Illustrator with paths- which if you don’t know is damn fiddly stuff. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of shaking and stuff and my next step is to learn to relax my upper body so I’m not so locked, and therefore relax my wrists and hands when I write and work. But I’m happy with what I can do at this stage and expect continuous improvement.

3. Walking + using a pen= FAIL.

4. Yesterday and today were days where I was able to keep going to the second hour comfortably.

5. No headache today. Downed first 1lt water quite quickly to keep myself hydrated, and started the day with cereal. Works well so far.

6. Used barrier cream to cut down the chafing and it helped immensely.

7. I’ve cut down on eating so much junk food because a) I don’t want it at all when I’m walking or in my breaks, because I don’t want to feel sick or sugar crash or tired and b) by the end of the day when I prop myself up in bed with the laptop after dinner I feel full and the sensation of feeling full sticks with me. So my need to stuff my face has cut down a bit too.

Okay, birthday entry over! Lets go 27! Hazzah!

Distance: 11+kms

Hell on wheels I am pooped! I didn’t know how I was going to be after two days off, and two days full of food and early celebrations in lieu of my birthday tomorrow. My ankle also played up, getting quite stiff and even a little swollen on Friday night. So even though I had high hopes for today I didn’t think it would go as planned.

Woke up, ankle was right as rain. Got on the treadmill and before I knew it two hours had gone by. Last week I would usually get off the treadmill at about 1 1/2 hours but I got to two hours today and hit that mental wall, and was fine to hop off and have some lunch and get back on again. My legs had no problem handling it- I even went up from 2.6 to 2.7kmph. I know it’s not a big jump but it adds up over the hours.

Two issues I’m figuring out how to resolve:

1. Chafing. I wear a good pair of shorts but chafing still happens. I’m going to try some barrier cream tomorrow before I start up to see if it helps.

2. Headaches. I think I underestimated how much water I need. I did 1 litre first couple of hours, but then felt a bit off so downed another 1 lt. Then this arvo I had a slight headache so I refilled the bottle and made sure I got in another 1lt. The headache is there even after a couple of panadol, so I don’t know if maybe it’s just my body adjusting. It could also be not enough food/not the right food.

It could be that I walked a really long way over a long period of time and my body has never done that and it’s still getting used to this dramatic change. Yeah, could be that.

Real Update:

I was pooped before and decided to pack it in for the day at about 4.30 and give myself a proper break. Had a shower, dinner, and a nap, and then after dinner about half an hour I suddenly felt the urge to get moving again. My body said,

“Alright Scar, I’m rested, I want to get up again now.”

So I decided not to pass on it and got back on the the treadmill and brought my count for today up to 8km. It felt good.

But this was the funny thing:

When I wanted to get on the treadmill I had an overriding thought cycle of: No, don’t. You’ve already showered. You need to take a break. Don’t do it. It’s too much hassle.

I was doing my best to convince myself not to do it. But then I was:

WTF? Why not? Why the fuck not? Why am I going out of my way to convince myself not to do something that is good for me, feels great, and my body wants to carry on doing? Who cares if I get sweaty again? I’m not going anywhere.

It felt really good to break out of the thought cycle that tried to keep me down and look at it logically. So I got the shit on that treadmill and kicked some ass!

I had to stop earlier than I wanted to today. After a while, and a banana and a bit of yoghurt I realised I wasn’t feeling that great. A bit fuzzy, maybe dehydrated. When I got off the treadmill I knew I had to have a break or something so I went out and had a proper meal- a nice Moroccan soup.

I got home and got back on the treadmill. Felt much better but tired faster so I think my body needs to recuperate properly.

It’s my birthday next week, so glad I’m feeling 100% awesome for it.

Seriously wondering about how to sort out my office though because its much too cluttered and I’m getting that surge of ‘clean out and order’ instructions from my brain. That’s a good thing, means my anxiety is lifting and my mind is relaxed and focused.

Specifically because all of the examples, the experiences and the youtube videos I saw were of fairly average sized people. I even saw one ad about a woman who lost 40lbs (about 24kgs) walking on hers and there she was strolling on her treadmill in a pink skirt suit with her hair done up, make up, the whole biz. No, for me, that’s not real.

Be aware that I use to work in a call centre- for a bank. And I know there are all shapes and sizes of work places out there but my experience comes from a bustling, populated, on the go workplace where you gotta wear your ‘work clothes’ (or what you could get away with being called work clothes), they might have casual Fridays, political hierarchy, etc.

I now work from home as a Graphic Designer which means that I can set this up for myself and not have anyone around me.

WHAT BEING AN AWESOME FAT WOMAN ON A TREADMILL ALL DAY MEANS FOR ME:

SWEATING

1. I sweat. I sweat even going at a slow pace. This doesn’t deter me. Sweat band on head, shorts and a nice airy shirt. Fan always on next to me and a bottle of water on the desk. I sweat and I accept that. It doesn’t get in the way, it doesn’t make things awkward, it just means at the end of the day the shower I have feels A-MA-ZING. Be okay with sweating. This leads me to number duo…

ATTIRE

2. I work from home which makes this whole process possible. If I did this at work, in a place that required me to wear a nice shirt and pants or a skirt and nice shoes- nope, wouldn’t happen. Number two is all about practicality. I can’t just wear a skirt because my thighs chafe so bad it’s impossible for me to continue. And sweating in to all those nice work clothes would be awful and uncomfortable and prickly. And then walking on the treadmill for that long in a pair of un-supportive work shoes? Noooooo way.

But don’t get me wrong, you can get some really nice shoes that are supportive and would be great. I just personally prefer a pair of good runners- and so do my ankles at the end of the day. Also, I’m sure my deodorant is fantastic but I expect that people would not enjoy being around me so much after a few hours of constant walking in work clothes.

So, just a good pair of track pants/shorts, a comfortable breathable shirt, my runners and comfy socks.

YOU LOOK HOT. NO, SERIOUSLY.

3. Aesthetics. You can love yourself and what you look like, I understand that, but a work place is not the right place for looking red in the face with beads of sweat breaking out on your forehead. I used to do that but that was when I ran to work cos I was late. Then I’d take gulping breaths in the elevator and fan myself when no one was looking to try and cool myself down. Then I’d duck in to the toilets and fan myself rapidly and pat my forehead and wait till I returned back to a normal colour. So unless your work mates are super understanding and you hang out with them outside of work and they don’t care what you look like you may not want to actively look like this, consistently, while on the treadmill.

FOOD

4. I’m still figuring out eating. I’ve read other experiences and they said “I still eat like normal! It’s great! I’ve lost four pounds!” They don’t eat like I do- obviously. I nom here and I nom there, but no nomming on the treadmill. Makes me feel queazy. I did try grapes though and they weren’t bad. But treadmilling makes me sooo hungry. And I think it’s a combination of constant movement + not eating as often. Because I would usually nibble through the day it means that I’m never really REALLY hungry. So now when I get off to have lunch I have to eat all these small things like a piece of fruit and a glass of yoghurt or whatever and try and fill myself up because I know the next time I’m going to be eating is dinner. Each to his own though- this may just be me.

CAN YOU WALK ON IT?

5. Check the treadmill you buy can take your weight. The first treadmill I bought was heavy duty, the kind you’d seen in the gym. I bought this second one el-cheapo and didn’t check the weight limit. When I first got on it the belt stopped under me.  I thought it was because of my weight but after some adjustment and some practice it’s fine. But I expect this treadmill’s ‘classified’ capacity for weight would be around 100kgs, but add fifty more kilos on that and you got me- so it may work but be prepared to make adjustments. This means my treadmill will wear down much faster but I’ll take care of it and lubricate it, and not expect it to last a very long time. It also means my next treadmill will be newer cos I’ll have saved some money.

But if my boyfriend got on there, who is also obese and much larger than me, it would stop and not move at all. The treadmill would have to be a bit beefier to take his weight.

DON’T RUSH. THIS IS PERMANENT.

6. This one I probably won’t remember much myself. Take it eeeasy. You are walking every day and your body will adjust. Trust it to adjust. Trust it to work. Be clear on your goal and STICK TO IT. My goal is not to loose weight. As hard as I convince myself of that, it’s true. I’m so used to saying Exercise=weight loss goal. But it’s not. It’s to reduce my chances of health issues, and to feel good about myself. Should weight loss come? Awesome.

But what does this mean? This means that if I don’t get three hours on a treadmill in a day THAT’S OKAY. If I only get half an hour IT’S OKAY. If I miss a day here and there? I’TS OKAY. The simple reason I’ve set this up is so that when I work, I walk. I can also work on my laptop if I like. But it’s cutting down how many hours a day I sit- and that’s the key. Try with just half an hour a day for a week. Or an hour. Whatever you’re comfortable with.

Or… if you’re like me… you’ll say to yourself “I’ll just do five hours the first day.” Doofus.

DO OTHER STUFF LATER

7. As mentioned before I love eating. Because I’ve started this a big part of me says “you should start eating great and doing everything else!” I short circuit myself because I suffer from chronic anxiety, which means too many goals paralyses me and stops me from doing anything.

I’m sure there are other’s out there who do as I do: Exercise=weight loss. But this is a MAJOR, ONGOING CHANGE  in your life. Expecting yourself to follow diets and stuff at this point is expecting a LOT. So I would say for at least the first month until you make it a permanent situation in your life and get used to it just do everything else as you would normally do and let this become natural. Eat what you like, listen to your body, note how it responds. Just focus on getting used to it in the first place and the rest will come in time. Be kind to yourself and recognize what a huge experience this is for you and your body.

Okay that’s it from me today. Good luck with your own adventures!