about lindsay

OK, let's get this out of the way: As of September, 2010, I'm 5-foot-even and 121 lbs. I am not overweight. I'm within the acceptable limits provided in NIH health guidelines. The thing is, well. Two things:

1. I spent most of my life (until about three years ago), in the "overweight" category, with a high of 160 lbs. in high school. When I lost the weight, I did it by eating better but without much care to a physical fitness routine.

The 121 pounds I carry are what you could call the lazy man's healthy weight. My body fat percentage is high-ish, my core is weak (when I do ab classes at the gym, I invariably walk away with a sore back ... because I'm FINALLY using those muscles properly), I can't run long before I just want to stop stop stop.

I can feel this little body full of so much potential that I'm finally ready to unlock. Which leads to point, no. 2.


2. I am not athletic, and I want to be. I had this really interesting notion for most of my life that I just wasn't athletic. As if being athletic was akin to being tall. Like it wasn't something I could choose to be, or something I could achieve.

Something clicked in the summer of 2010 though, and I realized that, not only could I be athletic, but daggum I wanted to be. There are so many reasons to be physically fit, chief among them a healthier, longer life. Other reasons? Personal achievement, improved self-image, increased physical ability, stamina, joy (because of the endorphins, right?).

And a weird reason, maybe a little abstract: I want to be human in the way that nature intended. We are meant to be lean, able-bodied machines. The last century or so has afforded us a lot of comforts (most of which I happily take up), but the whole softening of our middles? That seems like a step back. I just want to be a fine example of a human being, is all.

So that's me in a nutshell. I'm grateful for the healthy body I have, and I'm interested in treating it well and seeing how far it can take me.