You can do it!!!

So I set out to do some self improvement. I had the plan, I had the support (thanks to you guys), I had the means and even the time.... now its up to me. Guess what? After a brief slip up, I AM DOING IT!! I have been getting up at 6:30am to go for a brisk walk for 40-45 minutes every morning. In the past 2 days I have had only 2.5 cans of soda, but to be fair this is far less than a typical day AND it is that lovely week of the month that all women deal with so I caved. I have been taking my vitamins and the OTC 'belly fat buster' like I am supposed to. I have been eating smaller portions and make sure I have a good variety of foods that are also good for me. Know what? I feel SO much better, and its only been 5 days! I actually didn't walk yesterday, due to the aforementioned "female" issues, but by George I got my butt up this morning and went right back out there. This is not to say there haven't been some obstacles to overcome, lest you think this sounds like some day at the beach easy-peasy thing I am doing - think again! First thing I had to surmount, I did not own tennis shoes. I know, it's weird. I have lived in flip-flops, Crocs or gone barefoot for about 5 years now, and tennis shoes were just not part of my life. I did buy a pair when I was given a treadmill - more on that later - but they were ill fitting and about killed me the first day so they are now in the box to go to Goodwill. I am still not sure why I cannot do this walk in my Crocs but I didn't want to go out there and break every rule right out of the gate, so we will see about that. Dutifully I went to Wal-Mart to look for tennis shoes because I cannot afford to go and get name brand shoes designed for walking. This raises a question...aren't pretty much ALL shoes going to be walked in? I don't quite get the need for specific shoes for walking, court, cross training and running but it seems to me like a way for the shoe companies to make a killing. What if you have to walk across a court, thru a grassy, slightly hilly area to get to the track or course you want to run? Do you have to carry a knapsack with 4 pairs of shoes and change at each change in definition of turf? Anyway, I have long been a fan of the "$5 disposable" little white tennis shoes (which are not specifically for anything, least of all tennis) that Wal Mart has sold forever. Until now. They had them, sure, but starting at size 8 1/2 and going up to 12W. There were also a slightly different style in a few colors, which I am not a fan of, but gave them a shot just the same. Again I can find only sizes 8 1/2 to 12. Now I think its wonderful that people with the need for these sizes can just walk right in and get a pair of "$5 disposable" tennis shoes - oh, and now they are $8, but I would also like to enjoy this same ability only I am a size 7 so for now, I am out of luck. I decided to check out the 'boxed' tennis shoes despite knowing they can go for 3-5 times as much per pair, but I am determined. Do you know that every pair of size 7s I found were in black? I am not a fan of black tennis shoes, I don't know why but they just don't quite 'do it' for me. Finally I settle on some shoes declaring they were for 'court' activities so perhaps if I am punished for this breech of etiquette I will be allowed to wear them to go before the judge and explain my situation. They were only $11, still more than twice what I was prepared to pay, but at least the right size and color. So now I have tennis/court shoes which I will wear to go walking. Shhh. Then I bought a new bottle of the 'belly fat burner' supplement. I do wonder how this is supposed to work, how it knows belly fat from butt fat although I will not be upset if it works on both to be sure. I get this home and discover part of the secret the next morning when I go to take them. The bottle is in a box which has a tiny strip of what I assumed to be a tape like material over the flap edge. Turns out the clear strip is apparently made from the same material used to build Wonder Woman's invisible jet because it cannot be ripped or cut with a thumbnail. Keep in mind it is 6:30am and I am trying to not wake up the kids so there was no chance of me getting the scissors from the medicine cabinet. So far every time I have gotten those scissors out for anything, there are at least 4 other things that fall out of the cabinet and directly onto the little metal bin holding the hair brushes, and then knocking it onto the floor which is loud enough to wake people 2 streets over, except for Lon who sleeps thru everything. So I decided to just tear the box flaps, not realizing that a glossy laminate coating on the box would turn it into a razor sharp instrument of torture capable of rendering a paper cut like wound but about 10x as wide. Finally I get the damn bottle out of the box - its now 6:55am but I can finally take the supplement and get on with my walk. There is more clear plastic wrapped around the top of the bottle...joy. Wait! There is a perforated section! Yay - a shortcut into the next line of defense. If it had actually come apart more than 1/3 of the way down the perforated area, I am sure it would have been the perfect protective seal. Now I am left picking at clear plastic on a white bottle in semi darkness - again, trying not to wake the house - and after only a couple of small bits came off, I did manage to get enough off to open the top. To find a paper/plastic/foil membrane. By now I am fairly aggravated, I am losing precious time for my walk and I am on obstacle #3 just to get the 'belly fat burner' that also promises to help calm and stabilize ones stress level. I think I know why they added that benefit - getting the bottle open is enough to put one into full blown stress meltdown. I manage to get thru this seal, tearing it into about 5 pieces before fully removing it but it was gone and now I can get to the capsules. Looking into the now open bottle, I see what appears to be a bale of cotton. Okay, I can do this, cotton is soft and nice and will soak up a good bit of the blood still seeping from the cut dealt by the box top. I grab the cotton and pull, expecting to see a full piece of white fluffiness. I had maybe 10 threads. This is how the entire wad of cotton came out, about 10 threads at a time. *sigh* Amazingly, I did get to my walk. Since the first day was in ill fitting shoes I had a couple of blisters to deal with. I am not entirely sure why I got just as many blisters the next day with proper fitting shoes. I think my feet were rebelling against being shoved back into socks and closed up shoes. I honestly felt like I had forgotten how to walk in that type of shoe, kept scuffing the sole on the sidewalk and tripping over nothing. Plus the pain from blisters was no help. I did have a friend tell me about a type of Band-Aid made especially for finger and toe blisters. I went to look for them in Publix, sure enough they sell them. They were $4 for a box of 8!! Band-Aids are like $1 for a whole box of various sizes and they want $4 for these 8 blister Band-Aids?? Let me just say, worth every penny. Instant relief and they stay on for several days, even thru showers. So me and my Band-Aid wrapped blister covered toes were much happier. I had decided I wanted to walk thru a gated community about a block north of my road, and for the first day I was able to. Gates were open, and even though I am willing to ask the gate guard if its ok, there was no one there so I just went in. Such a pretty walk! Nice lawns, pretty flowers, quiet and no zipping traffic. Views of the water, occasional bunnies hopping thru. No wonder I prefer this to walking the sidewalk along 41 and all the traffic noise and issues there! However it was hot at 7am so I bumped my walk time up to 6:30 and they do not open the gates until 7, so I am forced to walk the sidewalk along the highway and just keep an eye on the traffic. I don't know how far I am walking, I usually just measure by the time. For the first 2 days, the walk was 40-45 minutes round trip. The third day was longer, but that included a stop into CVS for some supplies (recall the "female" issues) so I am guessing it was about as long since it was the same distance pretty much. Then today, I made the same walk as before and when I got home, not only was I not nearly as tired or breathing as heavy as the first few times, but it only took me 30 minutes!! Progress!! I did weigh in on the day of the first walk, but I am not going to weigh again until the weekend. Once a week is plenty for that kind of humility, seeing that I weigh at Publix right out where everyone can see! Still, I feel pretty good and proud of myself for sticking with it! This may even turn me into a morning person - EEEEKK!!