Exercise, yeah?

Okay, the idea behind low-carbin', as I understand it, is that you're forcing your body to burn fat instead of carbohydrates for energy. It seems to follow that if you exercise, thus making your body reach for energy stores to burn, you'll burn more fat, yesno?

I'm struggling a bit here with the whole exercise thing. First, because I'm a lazy cow. Yep, I know this. But second, and more importantly right now, because it bloody hurts in more ways than one. I can live with the pain of sore muscles because they're being made to work for the first time in a very long time, but I also have a bum knee (exacerbated by all the extra weight it has to support, natch) and a doubleplusungood lower back (had a disc decide to deteriorate and go bye-bye in my mid-twenties, probably caused by an injury to that area in my teens).

Sooooo ... walking hurts both areas. Stairs, the same. I don't have easy access to a swimming pool, or the overwhelming desire to spend money on a health club where I would ... nor the desire to shove my fat bod into a bathing suit and go out in public!

And one more thing. I miss riding my bike. Yeah. Gods, I do. Not all that long ago I was riding it back and forth to work (8 miles or so each way) and a longer ride every weekend, averaging ~100 miles a week on the thing, and loving it. It's low-impact and really strengthens the lower-back supporting muscles ... and fun! I wanna be able to ride again.

But. Yeah. Bike shorts. Fat ass. Tiny bike seat. Not a pretty sight. Verrrry self-conscious about that right now. And even if I weren't, I'd have a hard time making six blocks right now, I think. Even less purty: The sight of a fat chick doing a slow fall onto the curb, gasping for air. Yeah, no.

So. Having spent some time the last week thinking about all of the above ... I just broke down and ordered an inexpensive spinning bike from Amazon this morning. For the price it gets great reviews, and it's rated for 275 pounds (we all know they leave a safety margin there, so I'm not too worried about an extra 20 over). It should be here Saturday. The plan is to add spinning exercise to the diet until a) I'm stronger, and b) I can fit in my bike shorts. At that point I should be ready to dust off my road bike and hit the pavement again.

I miss riding my bike!

It sits in my living room, right by the front door, and I swear it whimpers at me every time I walk by. I leave it there to remind myself that I used to be able to enjoy taking it with me.