How Many Miles to Svelteville?

Goodness! It's been 10 whole months since I've posted anything at all. Since the last post I've
1. Completed my 1st year of acupuncture school
2. Enrolled Butterfly in a private homeschool
3. Spent 3 weeks in Utah with Second Daughter and family when her second son was born
4. Started a new business
5. Recovered from the 1st year of acupuncture school
6. Started my 2nd year of school (2 1/2 years to go)


AND begun a new exercise program.

Ever since I blew out my knees skiing, it's been difficult finding exercise that I could consistently do without re-injuring myself. Or hating the exercise. This time around I discovered the community pool. Unlike the pools I was familiar with on the mainland, here in Hawaii the community pools operate year-round and are FREE!

Because I was so incredibly out of shape the first time I went swimming, it took everything I had to swim just 10 lengths (25 meters per length). I was so wiped out after that first time I had to sleep for a couple hours to recover. I've slowly gotten stronger over the last 4 1/2 months of swimming 2 - 3 times each week. I gradually increased the number of laps to 40 and then had an Aha! moment.

I looked up the number of lengths required to swim 1 mile in a 25 meter pool -- 64. I figured that miles were what I could understand (that's coming from a previous runner obviously). If I swam 1 mile each time I exercised I could count the miles it would take before I was slim again.

I started out at 163 pounds and with voluminous amounts of excess fat. In the last 2 months I've swum 15 miles. I've lost fat around my tummy and my rear end has gotten tighter but I've gained 3 pounds. I will assume that the weight gain has to do with muscle accumulation. I have faith that eventually I'll not only lose fat but will lose weight too. It might take me 2 years to get rid of all  the extra (we're talking about shedding 1/3 of my weight) but it will go if I continue to swim regularly.

So here it is: I've swum 15 miles. That's the distance from my house here in Wahiawa almost to the stadium via the freeway. Cool.

My next goal is another 10 miles. That should take 3 or 4 weeks. Then I'll reevaluate and update my goal.

This has become fun. How far will I have to swim to become svelte?

I'm going again tomorrow!