Memoirs of a 270 lbs woman...Ski'ing

liliana51886

So, today I was all excited to go on a ski trip with a group of young adults from my area. This included my sister and her husband. I was so excited about going considering that I have not been since I was in middle school, and I figured it would be a great excersize. Considering we were going to be on the slopes for close to 6 hours! To give you an idea of what I look like, I am 5'5" and 270 lbs. I am definetly pear shaped, and the biggest things on me are my hips, thighs... and calfs.

As we pulled up to the ski village, I was so excited, and anxious at the same time.. Especially because of my weight and insecuritys that go along with it..but wasn't going to let that take control of me. We walked in, payed our dues, and I went to get my ski's and boots. One problem... the boots wouldn't, couldn't fit. I am normally size 8, I went all the way up to size 13. I could get my foot in, but the top buckles would not come even CLOSE to fitting. at least 3 inches away from each other... Talk about devestation. :brokenheart: ...After waiting for this for over a month, going with a whole group a friends.. and my sister... what was I to do? Wait for 6 hours? It took all I could not to cry. At this moment, all I could think about was storing those feelings into motivation to keep this up, and loose the weight. :embarassed: :frown:

The worker came out and tried to help me get the boots on with no sucess. As my face was turning even a brighter shade of red, my sister said not to give up, and that we should try snow boarding since the boots looked like they were a bit bigger.She said she wasn't leaving me all alone, and we were in this together. She wasn't leaving me alone. The worker agreed on her suggestion and brought me out some boots, I tried and they fit. Only problem was, my sister nor I had noooooo clue how on earth to snow board. She changed in to get snowboarding boots on, so we could stick together ( awesome sister huh) and we went out. We had no idea what we were doing, and could hardly get the board on. At this point it was about 2:30 ( mind you we got there at 1:00 pm) and I had it. I expressed to my sister that I wanted her to have fun. She did not want to give up on it, but after a while of trying she agreed and we went inside for her to get ski's on.. and I would go in and sit. Major low.:sad:

As we are walking in to turn in the snowboard, we told another worker the situation...so my sister could get ski's back. He said "Well, we have boot extentions"... ... ... REALLY WHAT? 90 minutes later, we now have boot extentions. Mixed emotions, especially because I was concerned even with the extentions they wouldn't fit. 2 Minutes later... I was in the boots... WITH ALL THE BUCKLES STRAPPED! :happy:

My sister leaded the way outside, and we went down hill ski'ing for the rest of the day. :happy: Not only was it fun, but I was pretty dang good at it to. Didn't fall ONCE! Def good work out. Probably won't be able to walk tomorrow... YES!

Lessons learned?
1. They have boot extentions:happy:
2. My sister is awesome. She didn't quit, and pushed me to keep trying and keep going at it.
3. I am awesome at skiing.
4. Don't quit.
5. Overcome fear, don't let it over come you. Especially because you think you can't do it.

New NSV goal? Not to use extentions.

I ... Did... It.

chicken2v

Well done sticking with it! Thanks for sharing; it gives me hope that I might be brave enough to try skiing sometime in the future.

RedheadQuine

That's fantastic. So glad you got to ski, and what an awesome sister you have!

Vailara

What a great story! Although couldn't they have told you that there were boot extensions in the first place!

Lonasue32

How AWESOME!!!!! I don't know you and I am so proud. Proud for you sticking it out as a reminder to anyone overweight, to not let this stupid weight limit us from living life. We can wait until we are "Skinny" to do anything and let life roll right by us or we can get out there and try and not give a crap what anyone thinks. I understand, I get it, I went to find a pair of workout pants and couldn't find ANY big enough in the whole store - I did cry. But I'm doing something about it, and so are you. You go girl you did amazing, and you are right you have an amazing sister and sounds like a very good friend. I'm so glad she didn't give up on you and I'm glad you didn't give up on you. Otherwise you wouldn't have had this amazing story to share with all of us and encourage all of us.

fitandactivemom

Shawn, you did it and were determined to not let ANYTHING get you down. And you succeeded. Imagine the possibilities in your future of the next things you will accomplish. You had a goal in sight and you achieved. I know you will achieve your next goal of no extensions! I've been sharing this story all day, I'm extremely proud of you, sister

scjl132

Like the commercial says, "Epic". Congratulations on finding a way to accomplish your goal!! I'd like to be able to ski at any weight. Just too darn chicken to try.

liliana51886

Right! I know it! I would have gotten so much more calorie burn!!! ;-)

liliana51886

Thank you! I totally get you with the workout clothes.. I am there. I think we can find a lot of things online, but still. These are all great motivators.

kmc979

you are lucky to have such an amazing sister!

A week ago I actually experienced something very similar as I went skiing for the first time in 20 years. When I tried to put my boots on I just could not get the buckles to fasten. I let them out all the way and struggled and struggled. I was getting so hot from my struggle I took my coat off. I finally was able to get them buckled and they hurt but I figured there was nothing I could do. After skiing for a few hours it was time go. It is always a relief to take off ski boots but this was much more. The inner side of the boot rubbed my skin so hard that a week later I still have a mark. If we go again this season (not likely) I will ask about extenders. Hopefully the next time I go skiing I will just be able to fasten my boot with no problems at all!