I owe my sole to Dr Scholl

Okay, almost at the two week mark and I have hit another roadblock...well, speed bump. Again with the blisters! This time my entire pinky toe is encompassed by 2 blisters and the other foot has a big one just where my toes are hooked onto my foot. OW! Being the internet junkie I am, I decided to go online and see how to treat and then prevent further blisters from happening. If you have researched anything online, you know this was an exercise in futility - hey, wait....can I count that as part of my daily exercise?? Anyway, in one site I was told that I ought to use something called "Runner's Lube" which I admit to giggling about. The pretense for this product was to prevent friction which is how blisters are formed -by the friction of sock, shoe and skin. Okay, maybe this is true, sounds like it was well thought out anyway. Then the very next paragraph says to use 'cornstarch or a powder containing cornstarch' to keep the foot dry as moisture contributes to the forming of blisters. So....which is it? Lube it up or dry it out?? I was so confused. Another suggestion was to get better socks. I only have very thin, well worn socks because since I moved to the beach, I rarely wear them. I thought the sock theory was reasonable, and I knew the Band Aids made for blisters were awesome, so I went to Wal-Mart to get new of both. They did not have the band aids (Publix came through for me again) but they had so many choices of socks, I was lost. There were thick, thin, no-show, over the calf - good lord when did socks get so hi-tech? Some said to wear only 100% cotton, natural is best. Others said to get a "wicking" fabric to keep feet dry - assuming this would not also wick away the foot lube if you used that. I did find foot lube there. I read the ingredients which were largely vegetable oil, petroleum jelly and something I assume to keep it in stick form. Great, Crisco for my feet. So there I am, with at least 16 varieties of socks to choose from and no idea what I actually needed. I picked out some 'no-show' socks that claim to be cushioned, wick moisture away, offer arch support and to stay crunchy in milk. No wait, maybe that was something else...anyway... I saw many labels for an "active" lifestyle. Truth be told, my lifestyle is far from what I would call 'active' even with the 2 kidlets to chase after. All I was looking for was something to prevent blisters when I went walking. Then, there was a flash of bright yellow....and I saw them. Socks made by Dr Scholl's - who have long been in the business of foot stuff. Right there on the package were the words I longed to read....Blister Guard. Well, BOGO would have been good too, but blister guard made me quite happy. Armed with now a good $28.50 worth of socks, I proceed to check out, feeling optimistic about my future walking. Too bad the next morning my feet/blisters were so sore from my schlepping all over Wal Mart that I could barely walk to the bathroom, nevermind further. So yes, I skipped the walk. Thought about it that evening, but decided against it - GASP!! Okay, surely one day will not undo much in the way of progress. HA! I got up this morning, a bit reluctantly, and suited up, including my new socks with Blister Guard, and hit the trail. I pretty quickly figured out that missing the one day, plus eating chips and a candy bar during that day, had indeed done damage. Normally I would walk for a full hour, sometimes as much as an hour and 15 minutes. Today, it was just 45 minutes. I was winded within 10 minutes; lightheaded right after that and felt like throwing up at least 3 times during the walk. My legs screamed at me to go home, I was sweating from my eyebrows and now my back was hurting. How the hell does walking make your back hurt? Anyway, I caved and came home at the 45 minute mark. I feel like I let myself down, but I also had no desire to heave chunks on the sidewalk in front of the morning commuters. Notice I did not mention any issues with my feet including any new blisters. Those socks lived up to their claims!! I am so happy!! Of course I still have the ones I had before I bought them, they are not magic after all. I have no new ones tho and I even went without any band aid on the pinky toe blisters and they felt fine!! With all of this you may be wondering why I have not been doing cartwheels up and down the hallway. As excited as I am to have found a way to walk without making my feet fall off, I am still a bit let down. I have weighed twice since I started this venture on May 30th, and I have lost less than a pound in total. I did see a 1.5lb drop the first time, but the second time 1lb was back. I know, slow weight loss is the best, but jeez! I was hoping with this level of commitment and in light of the sheer miracle of me continuing PLUS finding the perfect socks, maybe I would be rewarded with a 5-6lb loss. I do feel better when I walk. I can walk the route faster now and with less heavy breathing. I kinda sorta feel like my pants may be less constricting. Oh well, there is always next week for those results.