Last night, right as Holly and I were just going to bed, Holly made the comment, ‘Michael, I’m fat. You have to help me get back on track.’ I’ve heard this kind of rhetoric time and time again. In my opinion Holly is not fat. She’s not the lean mean pageant queen I met back in 1988, but she is in no way fat to me. I find her ravishingly gorgeous more now than ever. I’m not just saying that because I think she might read this. One because she doesn’t read my weblog and two because it’s true.
What made this conversation a little different was the fact that Holly alluded to the fact that her libido was directly tied to her self image. Every man I know wishes that his wife was frisky more often and I am no exception. When I delved a little deeper on the subject and confirmed what she had said I discovered motivation I had no idea even existed. All of a sudden, the idea of getting healthy had purpose. In fact, losing weight was no longer just about shedding pounds, it was about a sexual revolution! 😉
So I told Holly as we were going to sleep to remember that I loved her because starting the next morning, she was entering my personal boot camp. I fell asleep with a smile on my face knowing what tomorrow would bring.
This morning I let her sleep in till 7:15am, but that was a far cry from her normal 9am (she doesn’t have to be at work until 10am). As her eyes opened and she heard me explain that it was time to get up, Holly turned from the sleeping angel to the cranky bear. Over and over she insisted that it was not time to get up and that I needed to leave her alone. I gently, but firmly persisted until she was out of the bed. Not that being up on two feet changed her attitude one iota.
Still grumbling, Holly eventually made her way downstairs dressed to take a morning walk with me. We took Gracie with us and started an easy, but somewhat brisk pace walking down the street. As we walked Holly made the ultimatum that she was never going to walk if it was raining. It had rained during the night and it was very overcast and windy as we walked, but it wasn’t raining. However, if it was raining she re-iterated that she was not going to be taking a walk. Now I’m not an overbearing person usually, but if Holly truly wanted my help and if this little “boot camp” was going to work, there was only going to be one chef in the kitchen.
“Are you sure you want to give me this ultimatum?” I asked with a smile. “Michael, I am not walking in the rain, period.” was her reply. “Fine, then if it’s raining I’m going to wake you up an hour early so that I can drive you to the gym and put you through a brutal treadmill workout. The choice is yours.” I wasn’t kidding. I was taking on the role of being her coach and as such she had to respect me as one. Holly has to know that if she things she can get out of something by simply smiling, or by putting her little foot down, that it’s not going to work. I’m not being harsh mind you. I’m saying all this with a smile on my face, but there is going to be a program and it’s important that she get on board.
We walked for approximately 45 minutes around the lower portion of the neighborhood. I kept the pace moderate thanks to Gracie and her constant quest to see what was just down the way. As we walked, Holly and I talked about the day and what was coming up for the week. it was really nice. Eventually we made our way up the big hill to our home and I pushed Holly a little bit to keep up the pace and not to rest halfway up the hill. It was a good walk and I plan on doing another one tomorrow morning.