For My Son

lvacpblackwell

My road to being healthier began before this challenge of walking 10,000 steps a day. I was a temporary employee andI started by just walking on my breaks so that I had some exercise from sitting all day. At first, I thought that was good enough. I became a full time employee in February 2013 and began looking forward to taking a vacation. In the 18 years that I have been working, I had never taken a trip during my vacation. This year, I decided that it was time to take my son to Disneyland. This made me think about all the walking that I would have to do.
That night, I went for a walk around the block and found that I was having hard time breathing and I was hurting a lot. At this time, I was almost 300 lbs. It was disappointing; my health was keeping me from to taking my 6 year old son to Disneyland this year. That is when I made a decision that I was going to take control of my health so that I could take him next year. In order to build up my endurance I needed to do a lot more walking. In addition to walking during break time, I began to walk in the evenings daily.
This was slow going, but I became determined to do this. When the 10,000 steps a day program was announced, I said to myself, “I want to do that to help me with my walking”. So I challenged myself and signed up for the contest. Try as I might the weight did not come off easily. I was resolute and kept on walking as much as I could daily. I found during the contest that I needed to walk over 14,000 steps a day for weight loss. That gave me a daily goal so I walked until I did that every day. When I met this challenge, I began to feeling that I needed to walk more so that is what I did. I started walking one hour in the morning at home; walking a half hour before work around the two buildings; walking on all my breaks one hour all together; then walking an hour at night.
I am now 255 lbs and still working to have the rest of the weight to come off. One day at a time, one step at a time, I will get to my goal of taking my son to Disneyland next year. After that I will keep the weight that I have taken off during this time. Then my next goal might be to walk in a marathon.

cath14967

Way to go you!! What a fantastic story, im so proud of all that you have done so far on your journey. It is amazing just what we can achieve if we set our sight on it. Well done!

Dazellyn

What a wonderful goal; you and your son will have an amazing time at the Magic Kingdom

Alyssah09

Way to go!!! You are doing amazing!! I am in the same boat as you. I have a three year old and a new born and its hard for me to walk or climb stairs with out getting out of breath. I am 235 right now and my main goal is to get to 199. But ultimatly I just want to be healthier for my boys.

LBNOakland

Awesome! Add some type of resistance training like weight lifting. Don't have to start heavy. Google body weight exercises. Squats, push ups on your kitchen counter, leg lifts. You will be amazed by the results! Good luck! :flowerforyou:

minizebu

Congratulations on starting down the path towards better health and fitness. I think that pedometers are fantastic weight loss tools and it is great that you have set yourself a daily step goal. This gives you something concrete to work toward each day.

Good luck with your weight loss and enjoy Disneyland with your son next year!

groisamomma

Wow, you are an inspiration! I joined MFP yesterday and I needed to read a story like yours to keep going (is it this hard for everyone in the beginning?:)

You'll have a blast at Disney!

Gigsluvscw

I want to hear about your trip next year. :happy: Friend request just sent. :happy:

lvacpblackwell

I have started to do weight training every other day.