January 6th has a whole new meaning for me!

After 2 decades of my weight creeping up, then the 1/6 diagnosis of some weird, inherited, fairly serious high cholesterol thingy (with two Latin-ish names challenging to pronounce**), I decided to take my life back…I mean, REALLY take control of my life. My doctor has put me on some medication for this condition, but along with meds come instructions encouraging one to “maintain a healthy weight.”

My doctor assured me that my off-the-chart high LDL was NOT because I – and I quote – “ate too many Twinkies.” In fact, if I had not eaten too many Twinkies, it would not have made a darn a bit of difference in my LDL numbers.

“25 in 2025” I’m now saying to myself and the world as I know it!

Whoo-hoo!

Yes, lose 25 pounds this year, focus on keeping it off, and if there’s more to lose so I can be at the healthiest weight possible, count me in.

But this time, no Slim-Fast, no miracle pills, no nothing…I’m keeping it simple…doing it the old-fashioned way by counting calories and upping my daily exercise.

I purchased the LoseIt app for $40 per year, which is cheap and great. It keeps my calories accounted for, encourages me to drink a lot of water and sets a time to do intermittent fasting. I don’t really eat from 8 am-8 pm anyway, but it’s a good reminder to not eat late at night.

But what has really changed is my activity level. Sure, I try to do some weights and cardio during the week and swim at least once a week with my friends, but it’s those minimum 8,000 to 10,000 steps I’ve been attempting to do since my diagnosis. And that weight-bearing walk is what “they” (the experts!) recommend.

Here is where the Big Boxes come in. Big Box stores – while people complain about their monolith presence and perhaps hurt our environmental footprint, they are a haven for people like me who want to get a bit of fitness in during the snowy, colder months. Trust me, if I could walk the beach, on a golf course, or on the long, flat Erie Canal trail, I certainly would. I used to think it was “cute” when my late father-in-law would go to Home Depot and faithfully walk over the winter. For someone who had 2 heart attacks and survived both and go on to live a good, long life, he figured it out. He was a smart man, and now I understand why.

One of my “go-to” walking places

Lucky for me, there’s a WalMart, a Lowe’s next door to it and a Home Depot near both – and all are about a 7-minute drive from home. These Big Box stores give me a chance to get a few thousand extra steps in when normally I’m not able to in wintry conditions. If I’m on the road, chances are there is a Big Box store in one of the markets I visit, and if there isn’t, I can usually find something large – like a Wegman’s or Target to walk around in.

Okay…
“Why not use a treadmill at the gym?” you ask.

My reply is, “have you ever had plantar fasciitis?!” I’ve suffered from plantar fasciitis from overuse on a treadmill, and I never want to suffer from it again.

You go, girl! Enjoy that treadmill! 😉

What’s best is that no one cares you are there. No judgement! People are browsing, searching, and shopping. The employees – especially the re-stocking folks at WalMart – are constantly pushing around carts in every department, and are completely focused on getting the job done.

The Big Box stores are warm, dry, and in my mind, much safer than going to our city shopping mall. WalMart in particular, has easy access and the largest footprint – in which one lap around the perimeter is roughly a quarter mile. A woman who I chatted with while walking at Home Depot said 1 mile is roughly 6 laps around, but often has to dodge the fork trucks and the contractors with big, orange, metal carts full of 2 x 4’s. Lowe’s is the most quiet, and when I’m not feeling social or want to look at people, I often walk there.

WalMart is my preferred Big Box. I start with one trip around the perimeter, but then I like to imagine I’m Billy from the comic strip Family Circus – which wasn’t a true comic “strip” – but a single circle or rectangle, and humorously spoke us all about life as a family. When young Billy was asked to take a brief walk to say, go get a cup of sugar from the next door neighbor, he would take the “scenic route,” in which his path was laid out by the brilliant Bil Keane with a series of black dashes. I’ve done the same thing and it adds many extra steps.

Family Circus...courtesy of the late, great Bil Keane

Maybe Billy was onto something. I can’t help but wonder what he would do if he was let loose at a Big Box store!

Let’s hope the new, two-point-oh me achieves the daily step and ultimiately the weight goal. For now, I’m motivated and will likely stay that way, given what the not-so nice alternative is. Gotta run…wait…I mean walk.

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**Just go to your favorite search engine, look up “FH” and you’ll see what the risk factors are. Familial hypercholesterolemia is something that is not to be ignored.