A Little History

I thought I'd give you a little history......on me!  When I was a young girl, someone referred to me as being "husky".  I have never been small all my life.  There were times where I was more trim than others but never small.  I avoided exercise more than I embraced it.  I didn't play sports in school.  I only took as much PE as I had to in high school to graduate.  There were brief flashes of trying to get in shape but for the most part I played a better couch potato than athlete.

 This is me and my husband about 7 years ago.  I didn't realize I had gotten so big.  When I first got up in the morning I had to walk very slowly because everything hurt.  After sitting for a long time, I would have to stand and stay standing for a few seconds before I started walking to make sure my knees weren't going to buckle on me.  All my joints ached almost all the time.  I was ALWAYS tired.  I had very little motivation to do much of anything.  The year after this picture was taken I took my oldest daughter to college.  It was an exciting time for her, and for us.  About a month and a half after returning home from delivering her to college something clicked (or maybe snapped).  I joined Weight Watchers.  I had tried a few other diets in my lifetime and they worked but I never really changed my eating habits.  I had resisted Weight Watchers for years.  My thinking was "I am NOT going to pay someone to stand on a stupid scale and be told I am fat!".   I am not really sure why at this point I had decided that Weight Watchers was the route to go but I am sure grateful I did.  As I attended meetings I was taught life skills to help me eat healthy for the rest of my life.  I learned to think about why I was eating--was I truly hungry or was I bored, depressed, angry, stressed, or you name it.  I learned that a reasonable portion was enough, I don't have to eat the whole bag of chips or carton of ice cream.

This is me now.  I lost 68 pounds.  It took me 7 months to do it.  I was a rare Weight Watchers member in that I always lost at every weigh-in.  I did it without exercising--just following the Weight Watchers program.  I did pretty well at keeping it off for about 9 months then the weight slowly started creeping back on.  Before I knew it I had put 29 pounds back on.  I was angry and frustrated with myself but not enough to really do something about it.  Finally when I had to buy clothes in a bigger size I realized this was nuts.  I went back to attending my meetings.  At one of those meetings I learned about a "training" program that takes you from couch potato to running a 5K in 9 weeks.  Someone had made podcasts putting the training program to music.  The podcast told you when to walk and when to run.  How much more simple could you get.  I figured running is cheap--all it takes is a good pair of shoes.  I already take my kids to school early in the morning so I can run on the school track when I drop them off.   So away I went!  Between returning to everything Weight Watchers had taught me and adding exercise to my life I was able to loose 20 of the 29 pounds I had put back on.  I participated in my first 5K fun run that fall.  I have been running ever since.  

Flash forward a couple of years.  My youngest daughter told me she wanted to be a personal trainer.  She has the opportunity to attend college classes for her junior and senior years of high school.  I started investigating programs offered by the local community college and found they had a great program.  As I looked at the classes required for the program I realized all of them interested me!  I had been wanting to return to college and here was something that actually sounded fun and interesting.  I started the program two years ago and I will graduate in June.  I have already taken my certification exam and passed.  I have added resistance training to my routine.  This has helped me be able to run better as well as trim off some of the excess fat still hanging around.  I am still not sure what I will do with this education but I know I want to help other people realize that being fit and healthy is attainable.  It is NOT easy by any stretch of the imagination.  Some days you have to make minute by minute decisions to help you stay healthy and fit.   It can be a real battle at times but it is SOOOOOOOO worth it!!  The alternative is just not an option for me!  I don't want to hurt all over.  I want to be able to get down on the ground and play with my grandkids.  I want to enjoy activities with my husband WELL into my "golden years".  

Anyway, that's my story up to this point.  Weight loss and a fit life are not easy but I have learned that NOTHING worth having in life is easy.  The harder we have to work for something the more satisfying it is.