We had a fire drill at work last week. After we were cleared to go back inside, I opted to take the stairs rather than the elevator. As I moseyed up to the 7th floor, I took notice of a woman a few steps ahead of me. She was huffing and puffing like The Big Bad Wolf on a StairMaster. The fact that she was out of breath wasn't particularly amusing; what was interesting was that she probably only weighed 115 lbs., maybe less. She was skinny as a rail and totally out of breath. I was 170+ lbs. and feeling fine. I must admit, it was pretty awesome.
According to governmental standards, I'm overweight. However, I'm very physically fit. I can do push-ups, run for miles and miles, and take the stairs without breaking a sweat. Gone are the days of flunking basic fitness tests. I'm strong now.
Even though I can do all those things, I'm sure I would be appalled if I knew my body fat percentage. I pity the fool who runs behind me and is privy to the jiggling of my thighs as each foot hits the ground. I run like a lumberjack on painkillers. Trust me- there's nothing graceful about it.
I'm not sure there's a point to this post, other than things aren't always as they seem. To the casual observer, I probably look like an average, slightly overweight woman. Most people would never assume I could run a mile, let alone a marathon. It's fun to surprise people. I highly recommend it.
I've been "the big girl" as long as I can remember. I finally got fed up with that title on May 1, 2007. On that day, I started eating less, eating better, and moving more. I lost over 100 lbs., ran a marathon, then gained all of it back. What now?
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morgangetsthin [at] yahoo [dot] com
8 comments:
Man oh man. How is it that you keep posting my thoughts? I've been really down on myself recently b/c of my weight but I keep reminding myself that I'm fit enough to run a marathon next week. I feel like every time I walk into Gary Gribble's that they don't greet me b/c they must think I took a wrong turn and meant to go to Pretzel Time. If they only knew...
To most people you probably look like an average woman. Forget slightly overweight. I'm sure you look just fine. Even great! Most people would probably be surprised that you weigh 170 pounds, because it does sound like a sort of big number, and I realize that 10 or more of those pounds are ones you don't want; however, a lot of them are also the muscles in your legs and body that help you run long distances and climb stairs and so forth. And your body fat % may be lower than you think! BMI is one thing, that's a stupid number (I say this from personal experience). I have many of the same thoughts as you. I look in the mirrors in the yoga & pilates classes and to me my body looks wider, thicker, and fleshier than most everybody else--except for those who are fatter than me. So really, I'm in the middle. Average. I'll bet you are too.
I was impressed with the confidence with which you say "I'm strong". That's great. Your story reminds me of a dorm neighbor back in college. She was very thin (skinny perhaps) and so proud. Then we took a class together that measured our fitness, body fat, etc. She was very surprised to find out how weak she was, and how much of her weight was actually fat. I never looked at thin people the same again. It's like houses...they can look pretty on the outside but be rotting away on the inside. Stay with it! And keep up the great perspective you have as well!
Mary in TX
ROFL - Pity the fool!!! hahaha
I used to have a "skinny" coworker that would totally flaunt her non-diet in my face. We would go grab a snack and while I would get apples or wheat crackers she would purposely get a huge bag of chips or Little Debbie cakes and joke about how that was her "diet". However, this girl didn't have the slightest bit of tone on her squishy body. I referred to her as a "skinny marshmallow" and was never jealous.
I watch one super skinny girl in my office eat crap all day long. It amazes me. Some people are just built for that, and probably can't do the athletic things that we can.
I would never pass you on the street and say slightly overweight, more like "skinny bitch!". I too love surprising people, it's fun!
I don't think that you are an ungraceful runner at all.
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