Exercise-Schmexercise

I'm skinny.
Tall and skinny.

Always have been.  Can't help it.  Born that way.

So much so that I was regularly asked at medical appointments if I had an eating disorder.
Addiction to sugar, junk food and laziness an eating disorder?  Then yes.  I had (have) one.

Throughout my whole life, I've been despised by females who actually exercise and eat right.

Except, not so much these days.
Without doing a dang thing differently, I've gained weight!  What the...?!?!

See, I hit my 30's, had my fourth baby, lived through an earthquake, and then changed countries.
And somewhere in there, my metabolism slowed down and my general sluggishness wasn't rewarded with continued skininess!  I put on weight!!!  The nerve!

Instead of being underweight for my height (5' 9.75") I'm now (probably...no scale) somewhere in the upper "normal" range.  At least 20 pounds up from my previous "normal".

No, I'm not really whining.  It's no biggie, except my clothes are getting super tight and my energy level isn't exactly increasing.

So for a good two years now I've been contemplating exercise.  (These things can't be rushed in to.)

It had to happen sometime.  Can't put off health forever.

With that in mind, Doug bought me a nice road bike for Christmas last year.  (50% off after Thanksgiving.)  I rode it twice in Misawa always planning to REALLY get into biking once we were settled here.

I just got my bike last week and today I went on my first ride.

Yes, I wore shoes and a helmet and yes, I'm scowling.

It was hard.

But the reason I picked biking is because it inevitably includes periods of time when you can stop pedaling and coast.  And heaven knows I like me a good exercise where I just sit still with the wind rushing through my helmet.  (Running, obviously, is not for me.)

Hopefully there will be more rides to come.  Because my clothing budget is $0 right now so I can't afford a bunch of new pants and loose, flowy shirts.

Wish me luck!

And now a bonus blog post courtesy of Healthy Friend Janeen who now resides (and rides) in Germany!  (Lucky Duck!!!)

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From Janeen's blog  
Bikers and Cars Beware!
April 2, 2011


A huge success in my life is convincing someone else that bicycle riding is the best sport in the world!  (darn tootin!) You are outside, you get to go fast, you can socialize and you are working out!  I just can't see it getting any better than that.  Our friends, the infamous Doug and Em, have seen the light (well, kind of).  I have to give a little background.  

Emily does not exercise at all!  And never has. (Sometimes I think it's amazing we are friends, really, but we married opposites, too, she is a lot like Merrill and I am like Doug, it's scary - I digress, back to my story:).  She says she's allergic to exercise because her body starts to itch.  [This is completely true.  I AM allergic to exercise.  Itchy Leg Syndrome is a real malady!  There are literally dozens of us!]  


I remember going on a walk with her last spring on a beautiful day and she belly ached the whole time about everything I liked about it.  hahaha  So Doug started riding last year on my old De Bernardi bike.  He's about the same build as Merrill so it was pretty funny seeing him on my little bike, but he was hooked so he didn't complain too much about the bike size.  Doug thought it would be awesome to go for rides with Emily (which it will be!)  So Emily got a bike on a sweet sale weekend around Thanksgiving last year.  

It was a gorgeous day outside and she took it on it's maiden voyage around the block!!!!  With her jeans on and lovely Ugg boots!  Rockin biker outfit, Em!  I hope your bum wasn't too sore today from your jean seam.  :)

When I ran into get my camera this is what I came out to!  What a goof!

Anyway... here she is!  We are all so proud of her! I called her later in the day and I told her she needed to start going to Pam's spin class M, W @ 11:30am.  By then, she will be up and ready to tackle the workout!

She's going so fast she's a blur!

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(I never did make that spin class.)