It started with a pair of 98 cent flip-flops from Walmart.

You know the ones; just due North of the bins of boxed movie candy in some main aisle of your local Walmart, beckoning as you head over to buy deodorant or paint, in an array of colors and under a dollar.

You guys, I live in these all summer; they’re comfy, surprisingly durable and show off my vividly painted toenails- and if they do happen to snap or something, well, no big deal.

So, one day a few weeks ago (maybe a month), the hubs and I take the Chickadee down to our local creek to go wade in; she’s still young enough to not want to swim but still be delighted to stand there with us and splash a lot, and to her going to the creek is a huge treat.

We’re standing in the shallowest part, just off shore, when my foot sinks into the mud and rocks, yanking off my flip flop and sending it downstream.

I hesitate for a minute (which turned out to be too long); do I go after it?

Do I let it go and grab another pair during one of my many visits to Walmart?

I decide to go after it.

Now, I haven’t ever been a huge work-out person; I see the benefits, I have experienced them firsthand, but I am often tired and lazy and full of excuses why I won’t squeeze in some type of physical activity.

I have often taken for granted that in spite of my laziness I can decide to work out on a whim and it’s not terribly difficult to get into the swing, but the bulk of my adulthood I waited tables and stood all day- I never gave that it’s proper due for my level of mediocre and unintentional fitness.

I simply never made the correlation.

Now I’m a stay at home Mom whose housecleaning isn’t giving me that same stamina and endurance that walking for hours on end and lifting huge trays, heavy with food, did.

So, I caught up to my flip-flop but by the time I did it had floated into a grove of downed trees; I couldn’t find a way to get in that didn’t involve submerging my head and ducking under the murky water to swim under a tree trunk, or climbing over it and going into even murkier murky water so I left it, turned back and began to swim back to my family.

Against the current.

OK, I have to admit that I had always regarded the creek as a lazy, slow-moving small body of water; never did it ever occur to me that, while I’m a strong swimmer, my level of fitness (low, oh so woefully low) would work against me as quickly as it did, but it happened.

And how.

I struggled 3/4 of the way back (because, of course, on the return swim I arced out away from the places where I could put my feet on the bottom and stand for a second, leaving myself no choice but to tread water the entire way) and that last 1/4 I flipped on my back and did the laziest backstroke you’ve ever seen to get me to shore.

I have never been more ashamed of myself than I was as I sat on the rocky bottom of the creek when I reached my family at shore; I’m not that old, had never felt that level of physical incapability, and did not ever want to feel that way again.

We headed home and I immediately threw on workout gear and struggled through 40 minutes of strength training thinking, you know what?

The best time to start is right now.

It’s one month later and I have fallen into a routine that is working well for me; 3 days on, one day off (this works for me because it’s more effective than my “I will start on Monday” shtick has been in the past, it gives me no excuses to weasel out) and no dieting (because I truly hate it) although I have made an effort to be more sensible.

I’ve been doing dance workouts and strength training (free weights and push-ups) and it’s getting easier with each workout, the Chickadee has been doing the dance workouts with me (in her toddler way); the time will come soon where I have to start challenging myself more, and I welcome that moment when it arrives.

As of right now I have lost 6lbs; this feels remarkable to me since no amount of watching my diet in the last 3 years has helped me to shed one single lb.

Very exciting!

If anybody would like to know the specific workouts I’ve been doing, the mild diet tweaks I’ve made and what size weights I’ve been using please let me know in the comments section here or on our FB page (@ChickandChickadee).

After all, we’re all here to encourage and build each other up, right?

Until next time!

Love,

The Chick and her Chickadee