I feel the need to outline some very real … well, realities … about Cooking with Jax and my progress on the whole fitness thing we’ve splattered across the social media interwebs.

We’ve been getting a lot of feedback from the general public and, I can’t lie, it’s pretty awesome and we love it. Keep it up. It’s not only encouraging, it’s humbling, and puts just enough pressure on me to continue – lest I be called out. Which is exactly why I decided to go so public with this in the first place.

6:30 am selfies are becoming the norm.

But, when I hear things that sound like, “I’d have a heart attack if I went at it as hard as you do” … or “are you being [medically] supervised” … or we’re being called runners or compared to runners, I get concerned that there’s a less than realistic understanding of just what (and how) we’re doing this lifestyle change.

First:

82 days.

I’ve been at this “healthy living” change of lifestyle since February 4th. That’s 82 days. That is important because there is no hard, heavy or sudden change in lifestyle going on here. Which is something that I believe can cause some serious hormonal imbalances and is to be avoided. *Usual disclaimer here about how I’m not a medical professional – just someone with too much time on their hands and an affinity for Google.

Jax and I started our daily walk commitment 20 days ago – after I had been walking on my own regularly since back in March.

Second:

We’re walking.

We are not running … I don’t run. I don’t even run after chocolate or ice cream or ice cream dipped in chocolate with sprinkles on top, seriously.

This is so important. I have no intention of minimizing what we’re doing or ‘being modest’ or anything of the sort. But the bottom line is that I started at such a low place on the fitness scale that at 82 days in I am still just walking and yet still improving.

Jax and Raya on one of our first walks.

Another reason I want that clear is because I don’t want anyone that might be following along to be discouraged. We are making a lot of changes … just by walking.

Third:

I’ve only lost 15 pounds (16 on a good day). Don’t get me wrong I am thrilled with 15 pounds weight loss and I’m fully aware of the ‘muscle weighs more than fat’ line.

It does.

But in 82 days I’ve lost 15 pounds – 1 pound every 5.5 days – so before you say ‘I could never do that’ think again.

I have lost quite a few inches – I don’t know how many because I don’t measure. The weight loss and loss of inches are fairly irrelevant to me in the big picture. I’m doing this to be more fit, not to meet a certain number. I’m tired of my fitness level (or lack thereof) determining what I do on any given day.

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Honestly I didn’t even really notice the difference in inches at first because, as I’m sure others can relate, I was pushing my wardrobe to the outer limits in a stubborn attempt to pretend I hadn’t really gotten that fat. I’m still wearing the same clothes, they just actually fit right now… except for ‘Old Faithful’ (my favourite bra) … I put her on the other day after not wearing her for a bit … sigh … boobs are always the first to go.

Speaking of boobs, I totally posted this shot of my boobs on Facebook and not one of my friends complimented my rack! I need better friends!

I am far more motivated by things like the fact that it’s been at least three days since I had muscle spasms in my back. Now, that’s something I can get pretty excited about.

Fourth:

We’ve done everything with careful planning and forethought. We are aware we are in poor shape and want to make sure we do things safely.


I can hear some of you now, “But, Sarah, you guys were doing the stairs – FOUR TIMES.”

Just a reality check here… it’s more like a death march up the stairs – with long pauses at the top and bottom to regulate the heart rate . There is no jogging or even speed walking. And while we try not to stop on the way up, there’s a fine line between stopping and really, really slow walking.

This is me “resting” after a stair climb.

I am super proud of our accomplishments on the stairs and we approached them with strategy in mind as well.

After visiting them a couple of times and understanding how one trip up and down felt, we decided to throw in a “Week of Stairs” to give our fitness regime a little kick in the pants and start to stress our cardio limitations a bit.

Two times up and down on days one & two (because we already knew we could do one) … three times on day three … day four off (for a variety of reasons) and four times on day five – a decision that was made after evaluating ourselves on day three.

Fifth:

Moving forward we are at a stage where we have to start pushing ourselves a little more in order to keep improving. We even talk about running … some day. And I’m not entirely convinced. But, I will give it a shot.

I’ve committed to a couple of events this summer just to give myself some incentive. I work better when I have goals.

The first is Mud Hero August 8th in Red Deer. I’m still saving my decision to do this for another, future, blog post.

The second is Hinton’s Run In The Rockies August 16th.

I’ve signed up for the 10k walk/run. It’s on trails I know and I’m interested to see just how much of it I can run. Seeing as how it’s the week after Mud Hero I figure there’s no better time.

Keep on holding us responsible! It’s working!