I’ve lost 12 lbs since beginning the diet.

Down to 311 lbs with 111 lbs to go to my 200 lbs goal.

Progress.

I walked the mile home in my VFFs. I’m amazed by how the small amount of padding actually protects my feet from acorns, rocks and sticks. I can feel my foot start to wrap around the obstacle, I change my stride accordingly, but no pain. That’s a good thing while I’m toughening up my feet and building muscle.

Ultimately, I feel like we spare ourselves too much pain in life (see The Avoidance Of Pain post from a few days ago). Pain is our birthright. It’s a finely tuned sense that has taken a long time to develop. It’s there for a reason and we do everything in our ability to deaden it and prevent the notification.

Nature’s way of getting rid of pain is strengthening us. Man’s way of getting rid of pain is weakening us.

I wore the Vibram Five Fingers to catch the bus today (raining) and changed at work.

I am more sore today, after simply walking some very short distances last night in the VFFs, than I was after walking a mile actually barefoot. I need to pay attention to walking naturally in the VFFs and make sure that the additional shock absorbers aren’t making me injure myself. It could be that it’s just the process of breaking in new shoes… or I suppose it could be a delayed muscle ache from the barefooting….

Something to keep an eye on.

I’ve been reading a lot about barefoot walking and tonight I decided to buy a pair of the original Vibram Five Fingers that were on sale for $59 at Sheels (I was overcharged however, check your receipt). Vibram recommends taking it slow getting used to walking barefoot. CouchTo5k is about taking it slow getting used to running. I’m going to walk in them for awhile and strengthen my muscles and feet prior to easing into CouchTo5k.

Several friends have embraced the barefoot running fad trend. I grew up walking and running on the beach and in the country and have always had what I believe is a healthy distrust for shoes and socks. 

The theory that is making “barefooting” popular is the idea that your body is designed to, surprise, walk and run without $1000 in orthopedic braces/arches/shoes. By removing the bandaids and strengthening our muscles and joints, we can correct the causes of the pain we are only treating with our well stocked flex accounts.

Being someone that fully embraces a low carb lifestyle, going against the wisdom of organized medicine in order to do what feels right for my body is kind of a hobby.

Living closer to the earth and more like cavemen makes a lot of sense to me from a health perspective and I try to run all lifestyle decisions through that filter, at least at a high level.

I just picked up CouchTo5k for my iPhone because it’s worked well for several friends of mine. I’m looking forward to starting soon.

Description

This workout training coach will help you get into shape using the C25K system, a series of interval workouts, each about 30 minutes, spanning 9 weeks, culminating in your ability to run 5 km (3.1 miles) without stopping or walking. This app was created by Lucius Kwok and Kasten Searles.

• 20 to 30 minute workouts, plus a 5-minute warmup & a 5-minute cooldown.
• Alternate between intervals of jogging & walking in an increasingly challenging set of workouts.
• Full program takes 9 weeks, but you can start at any point.
• Choose from female, male, or no voice prompts that tell you when to jog and when to walk.
• Prompts at the halfway and 1-minute-left marks.
• Keep track of each completed workout.
• Use it with your own playlists — music, podcasts, or other audio.
• Use it along with Nike+ (Nike Plus system for tracking your runs).
• Music controls within the app.
• Update Twitter and Facebook at the end of each workout.

Not only am I now able to put on my new pants without struggling (like I had to do when I tried them on), but I can tuck two shirts in! I’ve also noticed I’m much thinner around the ribs with a clear break with my (still fat) waist. A few weeks ago I was one solid tube of pasty, white man flesh. Now I am a curvy mass of pasty, white man flesh.

I’m intentionally not measuring myself because the numbers tend to derail me from living a healthier “lifestyle” and make it into a game that I can quit when I feel enough accomplishment.

Still, progress.

I’ve been on this diet for a couple weeks now and I’ve begun to exercise again. It hurts.

It hurts and I’ve been avoiding pain for way too long.

I made feeble attempts at exercise over the years, but it’s been a decade or more since I had a routine.

I’m still not in a “routine” of any kind, but I’m making progress.

Today I did 25 push-ups.

Don’t get too congratulatory. They were knees down, “girl push-ups” and I didn’t want to do them. It was hard. It hurt my badly out-of-shape body.

But I did it. And the pain was temporary.

The number is a victory for me, because I used to do 25 push-ups (regular, adult man push-ups) every single day. For awhile it was my only major exercise and it kept me feeling good when I wasn’t swimming or walking.

Pushing through and doing these few “girly” push-ups even when it hurt, taught me something.

I’ve been avoiding pain.

Not just push-ups. Everything. All aspects of my life.

I’ve been avoiding the pain of exercise, of thinking about what I eat, of dealing with my bills and debt and general finances. It’s scary and hard and feels painful to undertake.

I’ve been avoiding the pain of talking to my parents. I haven’t seen them in years and I have a hundred reasons why that seems ok to me. Dad just got a pacemaker last Tuesday and I haven’t done more than email with my mother. That bothers me.

I’ve been avoiding the pain of being alone by dating people I don’t even like; people that aren’t healthy for me or aren’t what I want. At times I’ve had multiple women queued up in case one date falls through. All so I can avoid pain.

I was loaded up on anti-depressants for years. Nothing is better for avoiding pain than a drug that makes you feel happy and safe for no good reason—without making any effort.

I needed them when I started, but they slowed down my metabolism, made me gain weight every-single-week I was on them, even on the most hardcore diet. They took away my desire to do anything much at all. They even took away the pleasure of sex.

At some point I realized I can only be so undepressed [sic] without good sex. It’s unnatural.

I successfully avoided pain for a long time.

Unfortunately, avoiding all that pain didn’t make it go away. It just backed up. Built up. Got stronger.

And I got weaker.

Now, as I have kicked the meds and committed to keeping my seratonin levels elevated through diet and exercise, I realize that pain is not to be avoided.

Our bodies are designed to seek out physical comfort. To get fat and happy and have babies instead of risking our lives to change the world.

Our bodies like eating high energy foods and storing it all to our asses.

Pain means we are taking control.