Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Oops. I grew as a writer, but so did my waistline.

Four months ago, my husband bought me a Fitbit.
We live in a large house with three levels on lots of land in the country.
I was sure I'd be racking up those steps in no time.
Instead, I looked at my wrist after a long day of writing, transporting children to school and to various activities, making dinner and putting kids to bed to find I'd walked only a little more than 3,000 steps.
Experts recommend 10,000 per day.
It was quite a shock for a formerly obsessive runner with six marathons in my past, but it forced me to face reality.
I've completed three novels over the past five years and I've gained an average of ten pounds per novel. (That's on top of the pounds I'd kept after giving birth to my twins eight years ago.)
Writing wasn't the only distraction from my health (We moved, built a new house, and our aging parents grew more dependent on us.), but it has been a big one.
And I know I'm not alone in this.
I've watched several writers grow with me during this same time frame. Some of us have ramped up our writing to distract ourselves from the painfully slow submission process. Others are newly published authors under pressure to get the next novels out.
We share an insatiable passion for writing, but we have one other important thing in common.
We are all parents of school-aged children.
It makes sense. When we parent-writers look at our priorities, we often find our own health is the easiest thing to put on the back burner. Our health affects no one but ourselves in the short run and we honestly believe the priority shift is just temporary.
We'll start eating better in a month or so.
We'll go back to the gym after the holidays.
We'll get more sleep once this latest project is completed.
But that time never comes.
The months pass as do the years and, as the pounds accumulate and the muscles whither, it gets harder and harder to muster the enthusiasm required to shed the weight and rebuild strength.
Writing is my passion.
It's my past and my future.
It's my greatest priority next to my family.
But those numbers on my wrist made me realize writing would have to share that second-place ranking from now on.
I miss running.
I miss being healthy.
I miss the way my clothes used to fit me.
I want to keep up with my kids.
So I started by focusing on my step goal.
No more nonstop writing.
Nowadays, I take breaks.
I walk our quarter-mile driveway to the mailbox. I walk the trails on the property. I walk the country roads. I walk laps around the playground while my youngest kids play. It's 2 p.m. now and I'm at nearly 5,000 steps.
My efforts have paid off. I've stopped gaining weight.
But that is not enough.
My daughter is running on her school's cross-country team this fall. She needs to build her endurance and I vowed to help her. To do so, I need to lose weight and get back in shape again. So, a few weeks ago, I started doing five minutes of floor exercises every other day and jogging a bit on my walks.
Last week, I ran a mile with her at the track and even did a little speedwork.
I jumped roped for ten minutes a couple of evenings and I swam half a mile the other day at the YMCA.
It's too soon to see any results on the scale, but something cool happened last night.
My husband and I were talking as we walked the quarter-mile hill that is our driveway at a fairly brisk pace. I realized as we neared the top that I wasn't short of breath. Not at all. Not even a teensy bit.
That had never happened before.
The feeling that overwhelmed me was much like completing the first quarter of a new novel. I know I have a long ways to go toward my goal, but I feel motivated. Invigorated. I feel like this is going somewhere and that each step brings me closer, just as each paragraph brings me closer to the end of a novel.
My productivity as a writer has suffered, but not nearly as much as I'd feared.
I'm fine with that because when I do finally get published, I'd like to be healthy enough to enjoy the royalties.

5 comments:

Sara Backer said...

American society values individuals working themselves to the bone--there is little cultural support for taking care of your health despite the many rewards. Have you tried thinking about your novels while you walk? I sometimes get good insights that way.

Kristi said...

Oh boy do I hear you. I have jokingly said that I gave birth to four books this past year and a half and my body thinks I gave birth to another baby. My wake up call was earlier this summer when I learned I had high blood pressure. Now I'm walking every day. Plus, making time for at least an hour of exercise seems to be a common factor for most bestselling authors so there's another motivation ... good for you taking care of yourself ...

Windy Lynn Harris said...

Cheering you on from AZ, Lori! I started my first actual exercise plan in years this summer. I'm not weighing myself, but my clothes fit better and I'm sleeping better, so I'm calling it a win. I can really relate to having shoved exercise way down on my "to do" list. It took me over a month to stop feeling like I was supposed to be typing while I was on the treadmill!

Twinsmom said...

Thanks for all the support! Now I REALLY have to stick with it! Sara, I'd forgotten how much I could accomplish on a run or a walk. In my journalism days, a good run always helped me structure a story, too. Kristi, you have been a novel-writing machine this past year! You amaze me! I'm glad you decided to set aside time for yourself though. What good is that success without your health, right? Windy, I already have far more energy than I did! I'm glad to hear you found your balance back.

Twinsmom said...

I've got to figure out how to change my blogger ID to my name!