For Motivation! My Mother's Story

amcozy

I've had a really crappy day today and as I was settling down for the night while surfing Facebook, I saw an old photo of my mom - Things got shifted back into perspective REAL quick.... If you check out my profile photo, you'll see a very handsome redhead and a geeky 20-something with glasses - I'm the one with glasses - Hi!

The handsome redhead is my amazing mom. She has struggled with super morbid obesity (yes, SUPER morbid) for more than 20yrs. At the beginning of 2013 she called me from her home in upstate NY (I'm in CA) to tell me that she'd had a really bad appointment at the doctor. Her weight had gone up even more and she was in urgent need of bilateral knee replacements. Knee replacements sounded bad enough, but then she told me that the doctor wouldn't consider her for surgery - her BMI was so high that she could die during the operation if it was attempted right away. AND, to top it all off, she'd finally come back as pre-diabetic. Her mother and grandmother both died from complications due to obesity and diabetes.

At this point, my mother could barely walk. She is in her 50's and far too young and vivacious to be confined to a wheelchair. She's too young to die. I couldn't help but cry and begged her to loose weight. Begged her. Like, REALLY begged. I talked with my Dad and told him it was time to put up or shut up - did he want his wife to die? No. So he needed to support her and help her get healthy - she had NO concept of healthy... honestly, my Dad didn't either. He was obese too, just not nearly as bad.

So what happened? Lots and lots and lots of hard work. Aquatic exercise to help with the knee pain, a vegan diet, appointments with a nutritionist and constant contact with her surgeon. My Dad got on board too, but this isn't his story... Check out my amazing, beautiful, and much healthier mother NOW! (Sorry for no full-body pictures - she never allows those)



She's not nearly finished yet either! She is much closer to qualifying for the knee replacements and her blood levels no longer put her as pre-diabetic. Walking has improved greatly, though she still has pain - I visited her in November and she was walking as fast as me!! I'm SO, SO, SO proud of her. I can't ***** and whine because I think the gym sucks when my mom walked into her gym - IN A SWIMSUIT - at 420lbs.

Time to put up or shut up, folks. Let's not find ourselves having to battle as hard as my mom did and is continuing to do.

NKoz82

Awesome go Mom go! She looks fantastic and more importantly it sounds like she is feeling a ton better.