Reaching my goal

vickiele1

I have been writing in journals nearly my entire adult life. It is a way for me to think things through, process information, etc. Today, I decided to read through some of those journals. I started, actually, with 2003. I was surprised by what I read. It is funny how we forget things. In my journals I had recorded much of my struggles with my many attempts to reduce my weight. I had weighed between 115 and 130 pounds from age 18-50. In 2002 at age 49, I moved to a new state leaving my family and friends for the first time in my life. I moved to Kentucky over 10 hours away from my children and my grandchildren. I took a job that required I work 70 to 80 hours a week. I also began working on my Ph.D.in Psychology shortly after moving there. In addition I had many exposures and reactions to poison oak and poison ivy which I found I am profoundly ridiculously allergic to. I was prescribed large dosages of Prednisone for a very extended length of time covering a total of 21 months in a 3 ½ year time frame. In the middle of all of that, my body decided it was ready for menopause. My journal entries in March 2003 indicate I had weighed in@165 pounds. When I moved to Kentucky in August 2002, I weighed 135 pounds. So in about 6 months I had gained 30 pounds. I tried dieting, exercising etc. and at one point in 2004 I had reduced my weight by nearly 20 pounds. That was short lived, however, as I gained back 20 pounds plus with the next series of prednisone. I continued to gain and lose over the next several years. I would be relatively successful for awhile and then something would happen in my life and suddenly I would gain the weight back. I was often told that I wasn’t overweight; I looked fine, or healthy, etc. I knew that wasn’t true, but I wanted to believe what I was hearing. In June of this year, however, I saw a photo of myself at my grandson’s 6th birthday party. I was literally shocked and disturbed by my appearance. I had no idea I looked like that. I realized, after seeing that photo, the reason my knees and lower back hurt so much was in large part due to the excess weight. I weighed myself that day for the first time in about 6 months and was very upset to see the scale hovering just below the 200 pounds mark. I decided that day that I needed to reduce my weight. I began by refraining from all consumption of alcohol. I immediately began to see results. On June 25, I adopted my dog, Willow. She and I began walking 2miles in the morning and 2 miles@ night. Within 2 months I had reduced my weight by nearly 20 pounds. I then joined MyFitnessPal.com on August 14. That is when I could clearly see that I needed to change the way I ate. My caloric intake was staggering. I continued to walk every day, and then I bought a recumbent bike and the Jillian Michaels' 30 Day shred DVD. I monitored my caloric intake more closely. I cut things like Potatoes, breads, junk food, fast foods, soda etc completely from my diet. I also began a very labor intensive remodeling project on my kitchen. When I first started walking with Willow, it would take us nearly an hour to walk 2 miles. Now we can walk 6 miles in just over an hour. It took 7 days for me to complete Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred. Now I can do all 3 levels one right after the other at one time. I used to really struggle to do 30 minutes on the bike, but now 30 minutes is easy as well. The combination of exercise and eating healthy coupled with support and encouragement from my family and friends has helped me be successful in reaching my goal so far. There have been many times over the last 51/2 months that I have struggled with all of this. Life continues to happen, and I continue to be effected by life events. The major difference for me now, though, is I hold myself more accountable because I want to be healthier and happier. I have learned to listen to my body and can quickly respond to what I know it "Needs" and choose to ignore the cravings and recognize them as being an emotional response to life events. The message I want everyone to get from me is that you can do this. It takes work, determination, commitment, consistency and most importantly, it takes love. You must love yourself enough to give yourself this gift of health and happiness. Blessings to all.

Vickie

Dafrog

congrats

SyreetaJayne1

Thank you so much for sharing your remarkable journey and congrats on your weight loss!!

hotpickles

Great job, I must say, I am always inspired by you when I read your updates everyday. It makes me want to push harder, and go that extra mile!

Keep it up!

L.

rayfromtx

Thank you so much for sharing. Somehow just dealing with what life throws at you can seem so heroic. Your head held high approach is inspirational.

vickiele1

Thanks to all. @ Pickles you are doing well. Keep up the great progress.
@ Ray thanks for the encouragement. You are nearly at your gone as well. Sometimes life can be challenging. How we respond to those challenges often decides our future. I want to see my grandchildren grow into adulthood and hold great grandchildren in my arms-so being healthy in life is very important to me. That is why this journey to a healthier and happier me is so vitally important.

conloudes

Great Job!!!!!it.

JaneZv

It takes work, determination, commitment, consistency and most importantly, it takes love. You must love yourself enough to give yourself this gift of health and happiness.

Agreed! Thanks for sharing, and congratulations on your success! :bigsmile: