A journey of a thousand miles...

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Qatsi
Qatsi Posts: 2,191 Member
in Motivation and Support
...begins with a single step. Yeah, we've all heard that before.

You're probably the most vulnerable to failure when you're just starting out. You have this goal that seems so remote that it may as well be a thousand miles away. "It's going to take FOREVER to get there!" That's often enough to keep people from even starting on the journey. And even if you DO start, and maybe even make a little progress along the way, the goal doesn't seem like it's getting any closer. And that's when you give up.

Believe me, I've been on that road more times than I can count. I would rationalize and tell myself that I would finally lose the weight "when I decided I wanted it badly enough". That was a cop-out, of course. Why WOULDN'T I want it? The reality was that I didn't want to put the effort required to get there.

My main exercise is currently walking. Simple walking, one foot in front of the other. When I started MFP back in November, I could barely go for 30 minutes at a stretch without getting winded. It would have been easy for me to listen to that voice that was telling me to quit. Fortunately, I had a louder voice that was telling me "NO. NOT THIS TIME."

Eventually, it got easier. I started hitting small milestones - 10 pounds lost, 100 miles walked. And those little victories would motivate me to keep going. I got to the point where I could meet the 10,000-step challenge most days.

I've hit a number of significant milestones in the month of May:

5/08 - Six months on MFP
5/24 - 50 pounds lost
5/25 - 200-day anniversary on MFP
5/28 - 50 straight days of 10K steps

And as of 5/29, I have now walked one thousand miles since joining MFP. And I'm not done yet... later today I will have hit the milestone of walking 200 miles in a month for the first time. And tomorrow, barring some catastrophe, I'll be celebrating my first perfect month - at least 10K steps a day for an entire calendar month.

It all started with a single step.

Granted, I'm still a work in progress, and I still have a long way to go on this journey. BUT, I'm a thousand miles closer than when I started.

Replies

  • GarryGadget
    GarryGadget Posts: 7
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    Brilliant! Top notch.

    Walking is as good as any other exercise and is a million times better than none at all.

    How do you keep track of all the miles you walk, after you've done your walks? Does MFP keep a running tally or do you have a little spread-sheet somewhere?
  • dancingj2
    dancingj2 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    Congrats on the awesome journey you are taking!

    Walking is the easiest exercise to do and you can do it anywhere. Doing 50 days in a row over 10,000 is fantastic!
  • itsjustdawn
    itsjustdawn Posts: 1,073 Member
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    Thanks for this post :-)
  • peterdt
    peterdt Posts: 820 Member
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    Congrats Qatsi. You must feel great in so many ways. Now with all that momentum you will surely hit your final goal.

    Soon you'll be adding another pack of copy paper to that stack.
  • MTLumps
    MTLumps Posts: 82 Member
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    Very well stated! Congratulations on every step that has you where you are today! :wink:
  • Skeena4
    Skeena4 Posts: 209 Member
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    And THAT my friend is why you rock! Glad to have your support every day! Congratulations!
  • Qatsi
    Qatsi Posts: 2,191 Member
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    Brilliant! Top notch.

    Walking is as good as any other exercise and is a million times better than none at all.

    How do you keep track of all the miles you walk, after you've done your walks? Does MFP keep a running tally or do you have a little spread-sheet somewhere?

    I keep a separate spreadsheet which includes miles and number of steps walked - as well as my daily weigh-in, of course. It helps me to have all this in a single place so I can track my progress. It also helped when I hit a mini-plateau at the beginning of the year - I could see the effects of having three, four, five days in a row where I DIDN'T go out for my daily walks. That served as a reminder to me that blowing off exercise was NOT an option.
  • nevr2L8
    nevr2L8 Posts: 15 Member
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    Very impressive! Your tenacity is an inspiration to us all!
  • isabey
    isabey Posts: 23
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    Hello Quatsi..... Sorry for repeating myself ...... You are doing fantastic.... and you are an example for others to follow... Your are showing us that all is needed is...: determination, comittment and perseverance.... You don' t need a Gym, weights, bike, skates, fancy exercise machine, latest fad training program and or some latest special diet to follow.....all of those things seem to later become accessory to reasons why we could nt do the exercise or follow the program........ !

    I like the way you are able to list all of those milestones you are reaching...that means you are measuring...! (If you want to improve something you ve got to measure it...!)

    I think it would be interesting to add to your records ...all of the success and accomplishments others that read your post are likely to claim for themselves...!....
    You are an inspiration to all of us on MFP....
    Thank you for sharing...!
  • Qatsi
    Qatsi Posts: 2,191 Member
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    I do have a gym membership (which I haven't used regularly for years), and at some point I plan to supplement my walking with strength training. I realize that once I start that, my weight loss rate is going to slow down, which is the main reason I've hesitated doing so to date. But I recognize that I do ultimately want to be toned and not just thin, so I'll probably start working it into my routine before too long.
  • lose4good1
    lose4good1 Posts: 222 Member
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    Good for you. What an inspiration to others. Exercise is huge I have been wanting to lose weight but have been the same weight for 13 years. I go 1 hour daily on a ski machine 3-4 times weekly if I didn't do it I know I would weigh a lot more.

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