Next Step!

Wow - I really wish I had paid better attention and started a journal when I was going through all of this. I know how the story ended but I really have a tough time on remembering things as to how I exactly got here.

I know after I started with the Wii fit - I tried a few different Wii exercises! I used the EA Sports Active - that one was harder - much harder and I fought with the remotes a lot lol Definitely more of a work out than just the wii fit. I also used my fitness coach along the way.

Along with all of this my walks became longer and longer. I would push until I thought my legs would fall off. Never even thinking about running at this point. More about the fact that I was really hoping that my legs would just stop hurting so much lol I was walking about 2.5 - 3.5 miles at least 6 days a week. Not very fast but I didn't give up.

I know by the summer of 2009 I had lost close to 25 - 30 lbs. I was feeling and seeing the changes. By fall I was down about 60 lbs.

Most of my exercise was still limited to walking mostly and doing the wii. I did start a few exercise DVDs but hadn't branched out to those yet but I do think I bought Jillian's 30 day shred - which seriously kicked my butt! I was still very strict on my diet as well. That was something that was pretty difficult for me. I went the whole summer with NO ice cream and no treats. I had had the last 40+ years for those things and I would have them again just was staying focused on the task at hand and that was to lose weight.

When exactly I started running was during that fall but when I couldn't tell you exactly. I just knew that it was time to step things up. My goal - run from one light post to the next lol If I didn't fall over then I could do it again. I remember too getting on my parents treadmill - I didn't' get mine until Jan 2010 - when I would put it on 4.4 and start to run errrrr jog whatever form it was it was difficult. I didn't give up though. I kept pushing on.

Winter really wasn't too terrible even with all the sweets and junk around. I was still determined though I was slowing down on my weight loss and knew that I would have to change things up soon to get to where I wanted to be.

At the end of December 09 I had lost 77 lbs and I was 23 lbs away from my goal weight. Took me 8 months to get to that weight. I had changed through about 2 different sizes of clothes and was excited about buying new clothes but didn't' want to over do it because I knew I hadn't reached my goal --- YET!! :)

Photo from Sept 2009

Wii Fit

Now that I have decided it's time - what do I do next? Of course I know that I have to cut calories and do that dreaded exercise but man I am so out of shape where do I begin?

I had gotten a wii and a wii fit for Christmas and it was still pretty much unused. I had played a few games on the wii but not even set the wii fit up yet. So I got it going. I step on the wii fit board - hoping it can handle me - it tells me I am obese! WOW - what a great thing to start off this exercise journey lol Not that I didn't already know it but man it's tough hearing it.

I also started counting calories at that time. At first I had planned on just going down like 500 a day but decided to go ahead and drop to 1200 calories. I am not sure if that was the right thing to do or not but that's how I did it. I put my weight into my calendar on my phone to keep track of my weight loss and would write down what I was eating on a piece of paper and look up the calories.

It is really and truly amazing how many calories are consumed in a day by most people and they don't even really know it. I think that was a huge eye opener for me. I had already switched to diet pop from when I had done weight watchers a few years back so that was already done.

Going back though - one thing I knew that had to be different for me this time was that I really wanted to get healthy. Wasn't simply about losing weight this time and I really knew it was different. I had lost 40 lbs on weight watchers a few years back but as soon as I went back to eating the way I had always ate it came back on and then some. This time it's going to be a life style change - I knew and know that it has to be that way for me. No more burger and fries at lunch - salads - chicken - no donuts for breakfast or a breakfast sandwhich. Now it's time for fruits and veggies and oatmeal. *gulp* Baby steps baby steps!

The wii fit though is really a great way to start out losing weight. It isnt over the top for exercise but it gets you up and moving and making you think about doing more and more. I worked up a sweat plenty of times doing that wii fit and learned that exercise can be fun and not too bad. 30 minutes 5 days a week is how I started this part. Then I moved on ----- :)

Start with a photo

I am not totally sure when this was taken and it's definitely not me at my heaviest but it does show how big I was - I would guess I probably weighed 220 in this photo. When I begin my weightloss journey in May 2009 I weighed in at 237 lbs.

Trust me I was a complete shock when I realized what i weighed. I avoided scales and didn't have one in my house. I didnt want to know how big I really was I guess. One thing that started me to realize that it was time is the fact that I had found out that my father who is over 6' weighed just about 240 at the time. Huh? How could he weigh just a little more than me - he is a big guy! *gulp*

Then comes facebook - hmmmm no one else gained weight? How did that happen? Seems like everyone I was finding from high school looked and weighed the same - not me!!! I did battle weight problems in junior high and lost a lot of weight when I started high school. I think that for me was something that was always there so to speak and it didnt long for those old lazy habits to creep back in after I had kids. I tried a few times after having kids to lose the weight but never seemed to be able to stick with it.

Lastly comes in the health issues. My brother had died of a massive heart attack a few years earlier - my mother had a quad bypass and I finally had quit smoking. Some news about my DH and his health brought it all into light that life is too short and I was making it shorter by what I was doing to my body. It was well past time.

Starting at the end

I was asked the other day if I have my story posted somewhere about my weight loss journey. Sadly I had nothing other than the memories in my head. So I am starting now :) I will post what I can remember as I go along in hopes to inspire others out there there it can be done.