Seeking male and female friends on site to give and seek encouragement.

allanaaron

In November I lost my job of 16 years. Wracked with depression, diabetes, bad cholesterol, a crumbling 6-year relationship and gaining back most of my 115 lb. weight loss of ten years ago, I was up against it. My career as a teacher was over; my acting career was in the past, my writing career flatter than a pancake and my health insurance gone. This baby boomer was in trouble. So I decided to work out and try to get better. For six months, despite weighing well over 300 lbs. I swam five days a week and played tennis 3 times a week. I did not count my calories or weigh my food, but I ate somewhat healthy if way too much. On the day I found out I had cured myself of diabetes and had my best cholesterol of my life, especially the bad cholesterol, which was now normal, … I broke my foot playing tennis. My six-year relationship was dead and now I lost my number one social joy of my life paddle tennis. I played with a group of mostly men and every few days we trash talked each other as we played paddle tennis hard. And we laughed... a lot. I also lost my number one exercise swimming. I often swam a mile and loved the hour of nonstop swimming that was both meditation, healing and competitive. My competition was myself and I loved trying to beat my 1 hour and seven minutes record to swim a mile. The world record is about 16-18 minutes to swim a mile, so I had lots of room to grow. Gone. I took up weight lifting but I gained 16 lbs in a month, mostly fat, and was terrified. No girlfriend, no job, no social life, no swimming, no tennis, no clothes that fit, no health insurance, (I’m working on it, but my depression makes it difficult never mind the hoops I have to jump through.) I was terrified. Was diabetes going to come back, never mind everything else? So I got back on myfitnesspal.com and started weighing and measuring my food. Day One June 3rd I weighed 358.2, today June 27th I weigh 338.8. I’ve lost slightly over a 16 lb bowling ball and a human brain(My brains on the heavy side, large head, hard to find hats that fit). A long journey begins with a few steps, if I’m climbing Everest the ground is still kind of flat, but when I turn around I’ve got a little distance happening. I’m a food addict, there are no guarantees I will do this tomorrow, but I want to get to the top and I don’t want to stop. I’d love some friends on the site to watch their news feeds and allow us to keep our spirits high as we encourage each other. I’m off to the gym for an hour of weight lifting. Swimming should be back in four weeks (fingers crossed) and tennis in three months. Wishing everyone the best. Onward and upward, or should I say ONWARD AND DOWNWARD. : )