Exercising with Curves by Lisa Drake

fitness friday 

3Ok I’m a fat (size UK 28), over forty (technically closer to 50 now!), recently told diabetic (only just) woman with PCOS! Ok now that’s said I’m ok with it. I’ve been big since I was 18 It’s nothing new to me. 

I used to swim competitively and that meant a lot of training 5-6 hours a day. When I stopped it was a dead stop! Within 3 months I had put on 5 stone and had the stretch marks to show for it! From then on the pool was a place I didn’t enjoy as a form of exercise. All I saw were people going passed me when a year before I would have gone there and back in the same time. 

So I stopped exercising. Which made me put on more weight and so it went on. I’ve joined gyms, gone for a few months and paid membership for years in the hope that somehow just being a member would make me skinny. So late last year I bit the bullet and decided that enough was enough so contacted a friend of mine whose husband was a personal trainer.  

Now the thought of me exercising in front of other people fills me with absolute DREAD! My body in gym kit, getting hot and sweaty, not being able breathe and being surrounded by people staring, the mere thought actually still makes me shiver.  If I really thought about it, my rational head would say that those people have better things to do than stare at me working out and so what if they were! However my rational brain does not come into play when I’m thinking about my weight/size. 

 

That’s when I met Carl! Now Carl is a young, gorgeous, fit man and normally my non-rational head would be talking to me again but for some reason it just doesn’t! We have fun! Can’t believe I just wrote the word fun about exercise! But it’s true! He makes me laugh, sometimes to the point where I feel my asthma is about to kick in. Now I’m using the words fun and laughing in regards to exercise, who knew!! My goodness it’s hard work though! The first few times I went I could hardly do anything without feeling that I was about to leave the mortal world,  but slowly, and I do mean slowly, I am feeling less like death and more like I can do it! 

Carl mixes things up for me so we do weights, some weird machine that’s a bit like skiing on flat land, but mostly we do boxing with pads. Having to focus on doing a different combination of punches means you’re not really thinking about how exhausted you are. Sometimes he even puts on gloves and padding so I actually get to hit someone! After a week of teaching 4/5 year olds actually being able to get your frustration and anger out on someone who’s not going to judge us amazing! It’s like going to therapy without having to talk. 

Now I’m trying to do between 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours a week of exercise to make me feel better, more healthy. This isn’t about my weight, or my size, or to counteract how people look at me, it’s for me to feel healthier. That means giving my heart a workout.  

 

But mostly I’m doing it because it’s fun! Ladies and gentlemen, give it a go, I promise it is not as daunting as it seems. 

The exercise is good for my heart and the laughter is good for my soul. 

 

Author Credits: 

https://www.facebook.com/lisa.drake1 

https://www.instagram.com/cobbett1973/ 

 

Photography Credits: 

https://www.facebook.com/InspireKate/  

Style/clothing Credits:  

https://www.asos.com/women/curve-plus-size 

Gym Credits: 

https://www.facebook.com/UrbanKickboxingCentre/ 

 

Powered by WishList Member - Membership Software