I asked my doctor what he recommends for weight loss. I got the same generic response that you would expect, “dieting and exercise“. Common sense weight loss solutions like diet and exercise are what everyone says and few of us do. After all, how did we get in this unhealthy state to begin with? It wasn’t what we didn’t know, it’s what we didn’t do. Knowing and doing are what separates us from those healthy great looking people we see running everyday. I never liked those people – until now.

Beautiful Walks – I decided that my wife and I are in our mid to late forties and it isn’t going to get any easier from here. It’s time to take matters into our own hands and start getting active. Eating healthy was no problem. An active and healthy lifestyle is what we need and it was going to be harder than quitting smoking all those years ago.

So we started out slow. Daily walks every afternoon. This is nice, strolling along, talking and enjoying the neighborhood. Two problems.

1. First, I’m six foot tall and my wife is five foot two. Walking as slow as her wasn’t helping me at all.
2. The second problem was time. To get any distance we needed to take almost an hour out of our busy schedules.

The Separation – I decided walking together was fun so we should still do it but it wasn’t the weight loss solution I was looking for. I decided to go it alone and step things up a little. I began to go out on daily jogs. I would stretch, start off with a very quick walk and do my best to turn that into a jog or slow run. It’s amazing how little air there seems to be outside sometimes. It didn’t take long to realize this wasn’t the fitness and exercise plan for me.

1. I was embarrassed for my neighbors to see how out of shape I was.
2. I was still losing too much time.
3. In the back of my mind I could see myself falling over from a heart attack or something with no help in sight even though I got medically checked first.
4. Don’t even get me started on the bugs and mosquitoes.
5. All that and the fact our neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks.

I knew I needed a better plan.

Tough Decision – An Exercise Machine – I had been thinking of it in the back of my mind the entire time but my cheap way of thinking wouldn’t let me say it out loud. I needed an exercise machine. I wasn’t sure exactly what exercise machine would be best but I knew they could be very expensive. I remember watching a program years back how the vast majority who buy exercise equipment end up paying on something they never use. I didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a fancy exercise machine just to set it in our garage to hold up Christmas boxes in a couple of months.

Weapon Of Choice - An Exercise Treadmill – It didn’t take long to decide what exercise machine I wanted. An exercise treadmill! How much are treadmills? It didn’t matter because I was armed knowing there were thousands of exercise treadmills all over the place not being used. I went straight to Craigslist and search locally for ‘exercise treadmill‘. Just as I expected, dozens of people trying to unload their treadmill cheap. Think about it, they have given up. They don’t want that monstrosity sitting there reminding them daily of yet another failure. I don’t mean to be rude but we all know it’s true.

Finding The Deal – I found a nice exercise treadmill for a hundred bucks. Nothing fancy, a Weslo Cadence Folding Treadmill. I had to drive over a hundred miles round trip to get it but it was worth the trip. I was on it ten minutes after we unloaded it from my pickup truck. I hit it hard. Thirty minutes as fast as I could manage. Big mistake. I could hardly move the next day.

The Agony Of Defeat – No pain no gain right? Wrong! With a little research I found a fast steady walk on my exercise treadmill was all I needed to weight loss and to get a little healthier. Two weeks later I’m twelve pounds lighter and I feel great. I’m not done by a long shot.

The True Exercise And Weight Loss Solution – The thing I discovered about running/walking on an exercise treadmill is it can be done anytime. I can even watch TV or an online video while working out. My neighbors don’t have to watch me sweat. And best of all, it’s something I have manages to stick to without any trouble. I’m glad I decided to toss aside my exercise machine fear, or at least the cost of one, and get started with my own exercise treadmill right in my living room.

My advice? – Get your heart checked by a doctor, make certain it’s safe to exercise. Then when your doc gives you the thumbs up find a nice used, I mean previously owned lol, exercise treadmill and build up to a level that you can maintain indefinitely. Let me know how it’s going in the comment section below. I’d love to hear your story.

Here’s to happy healthy living, Brian D. Hawkins

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86803208@N00/ / CC BY-SA 2.0