The End of an Era

If 6 months can be called an Era. And given how my life has changed in the last 6+ months, I think it can.

We found out that my husband was (is) diabetic on Sept 15. On Oct.5, I joined Curves, as the Exercize portion of Diet and Exercize that we were undertaking to control his disease (battling Diabetes is a joint effort). It was a pretty major decision given that my middle name is Sedentary (you can look it up), but I dove in, and I worked my ass off (literally-as my granddaughter said recently, "Gramma, your butt disappeared").

Neither rain (not a lot), nor snow (plenty), nor nasty weather (nearly -30F some days) kept me from schlepping my lazy self uptown at 8:00am (9:00 on Saturdays), 6 days a week and elevating my heart rate to 75% capacity for my age group, for 30 minutes (and complaining, every single day about the squat machine, and the one I called Thigh Killer). I met some wonderful ladies at Curves, who have become my friends. We laughed, we cheered each other on, we sweated to the oldies (including a Euro-Techno version of Black Magic Woman, that was a crime against music in general, and Carlos Santana in particular), we gathered canned goods for the local food bank, we made quilt squares for charity, and we lost weight and inches together. One day, we talked so much, and so happily, that I did a 4th circuit on the machines without even noticing.

Over the last 6 months, I've lost 59 lbs (though 7 of those lbs were gone before I joined Curves) and 51" (by Curves' measuring standards, which counts each thigh separately) and I've gone from 47% body fat, to 38%. I started out wearing size 24 jeans and now I comfortably fit into size 12 (and I have a pair of size 10's that I can wear, if breathing isn't important). I've become fit enough that 30 seconds on any given weight machine, with a little jogging in between, doesn't make me sweat much any more.


So where is this leading? This morning was Curves' last day- the branch in my town is now closed. The next nearest outlet is 43 miles away, so I'm letting my membership lapse, but I'll be forever thankful for the push that Curves gave me on the road to fitness and health.


I'm not a new person- I'm the same old person, just a bit thinner, and a whole lot healthier. Since losing weight is the easy part, and keeping it off is the challenge- I'll continue exercizing (on the treadmill until it gets nice enough to walk outside, and as soon as it warms up, I'll start swimming every day). And if I'm being honest (tm Simon Cowell), I've probably moved beyond the Curves workout anyway. But I'm going to miss it, and the terrible music, and Anita, and Mary, and Mary Anne, and Edith, and Coreen, and Roxann, and Jean- my early morning companions. Ladies, it was my pleasure. Long may we sweat.