Fitting in with a fitness group, when you're not yet fit

This past weekend I was out window shopping with the teenager I am mentoring. One of the stores we browsed through was an athletic clothing store. There are so many cute athletic clothes, but they are all so small! There is so little there for the 'mature' athete and definitely only by special catalog/internet order for the plus size folk who want to get more fit and while doing it, wear sweat wicking clothes. So, you don't 'fit' in a fitness store and I always wonder if the employees snicker when they see a blob like me come into their stores looking for something for ME.

Then there's online sites for fitness. I'm trying to decide on a heart rate monitor and gear forums are full of triathletes who can't even fathom WALKING for exercise. Anyone not running at least 10ks are out of place.

There are tons and tons of weight loss forums - from those for new moms only, women only, etc. But, they aren't the best to go to for advice on sporting equipment as they are, for the most part, novices too and many are dieting, not getting active with fitness. And well, a lot of those sites are also full of people doing things unhealthily.

I'm not there yet in being able to say, "I've already lost X pounds".  I don't sound or look serious in this weight loss venture. I don't have the 25 pounds plus 'mark' as part of my signature. Even readers here might think, "Eh, she'll quit when it gets hard. I'll give her two months." And for fitness. Does 3 weeks of exercise sound serious? Um, no.

It's like you have to earn respect to get believed. Six pounds and 3 weeks of exercise? Well, Pfft... it really is nothing. So, onwards I trudge. Years ago, when I lost the weight with aerobics, I belonged to an online group for people who were video aerobics addicts. That's how I built my video aerobics library - people traded their videos all the time, so I have some really good ones and I hope to have sven transfer them to DVD as I need them. Back then, when I was on the forum, everyone had a cute little avatar. Mine was a chick hatching from an egg and I wrote beneath it, "Fitness Fledgling". I think I'll resurrect that name/picture. As that's what this is really about. I found some cute ones. This one looks like a chick ready to take on the world, so seems fitting: 

 But I found some others that make me laugh. These two make me smile. The first one is just devious and fun. The second is how I feel about exercising most of the time too. Which one should go on the blog? Or if you find others that seem to fit, let me know!:

And I think I want one of these to keep on my desktop to remind me what this is all about:

On to the stats 11/27/11:

• Weight: Beginning: 255.6    Now: 248.8 lbs
• Body Fat: Beginning: 49.8%  Now: 49.6%
• Body Water: Beginning: 37.5%   Now37%
• Muscle Mass: Beginning: 118 lbs    Now: 119 lbs
• Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): Beginning: 1866   Now: 1804 calories
• Metabolic Age: Continually 50 - their oldest age to show
• Bone Mass: Continually: 6.4 lbs
• Walked it Out/walking totals: 69 miles
• Exercise total: 22:30 hours