Thanks to doing a mess of calf raises and a long distance walk, my legs retained lots of fluid and kept my weight steady for the week.

Note to self: Next time I try impressing my trainer and walking 7 miles in the same day, I don’t do it 24 hours before weigh in. My legs were horribly sore Saturday morning its a wonder the scale didn’t show a gain. Turns out my muscles were packing just enough water to keep my weight steady — 190.4 pounds.

Since I’m sort of a glass half full type of gal, that means next Saturday’s weigh in should show a nice loss (provided I keep eating right this week).

Calf Raises & Upping My Walking Distance
The day before weigh in, I met with my trainer for a lower body workout. Nothing out of the ordinary until the end. She had me do calf raises up the stairs. Ten calf raises (both legs at the same time) per step. My trainer said she expected after the 6th step (60 raises) and I’d quit.

I smiled and told her, “I’m going to the top of the stairs.”

That meant all 22 steps or 220 calf raises. When I hit the 6th step, I didn’t feel any real burn in my calves. By step 10 my trainer joked that I was just showing off. That was all the fuel I needed to keep going. The big, bad burn finally hit me at step 15. Sure I could have stopped, but I was just 7 steps from the top. I pushed on.

When I reached the top and finished, my calves felt like jelly. I tried walking it off but I quickly cramped. My trainer showed me some stretches and that did the trick. I felt great, headed home, still determined to walk 7 miles that afternoon.

For my typical walks, I bounce between 3 – 6 miles. Oh sure I’ve done the occasional 7 – 9 miles, but once in a blue moon. Last week I decided to push my range and start walking between 5 – 8 miles regularly.

Of course I picked the perfect day for 7 miles: First day of Spring, a high of 35 and a “wintry mix” to keep it exciting.  At mile 4 my calves started smoking. By mile 5 they were on fire. That little voice in my head started telling me to pack it in and go home. “It’s cold, wet and my legs are too tired.”

Out of no where another voice said, “Suck it up, Buttercup.” So I pressed on and walked 7.3 miles. Hooray!

Sure the scale didn’t budge, but I’ve upped my walk and feel great. I’m expecting awesome results in the weeks to come.