Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day and I am giving myself a gift this year. Today I got up before 10am and I went to my first class at the YMCA. My gift to myself is to get started back on the road to being in shape.
I started putting on weight years ago. At first, it just crept up, a pound or two here, another couple there. And it seemed each year as we went back to school, I had to buy my clothes one size bigger than the year before. Until one day I realized that I was not just chubby, not just a little overweight--I was considered obese! And actually, I was knocking on the door of morbidly obese! I'm only 5' 3", and I was weighing over 200 lbs! But my exercise habits were pretty off and on....mostly off. Then, after I was diagnosed with ADD and started medication for it, one of the side effects was that I was hardly ever hungry. And when you're not eating, you lose weight, even if you're not really exercising!

The problem is, you also lose muscle! I lost all the way down to 137 and went from a size 18 to a size 8! I had more energy, I could get down on the floor and play with the grandkids and still be able to get back up! I felt so good and I swore I would never let myself get that big again!

But then my medicine for my bipolar disorder had to be changed and one sife effect of it was that I was hungry all the time! This time I put the weight on very quickly! I went from that size 8 right back up to that size 18 in a fraction of the time it took to lose the weight. And I just kept going.

So, here I am, back in a size 18 (and should probably actually be in a size 20) and weighing in at the heaviest I have ever weighed in my life....215.5! All my measurements are in the 40's. I get tired so easily because of all the stress on my joints  from all this weight.

About 2 months ago, I thought I was having a heart attack and Terry had to call 911. I didn't have a heart attack, but the dr's did find that my kidney function was not what it should be. After years of being on medicines for my arthritis, my kidneys were irreversibly damaged. So my medicines had to be adjusted, my blood pressure has to be gotten under control, and I have to lose weight. I'm 47 years old and I am in pitiful shape. I have 7 absolutely incredible grandkids, with another due this summer. I want years of time with them and I want to be able to play with them!

So, the YMCA had a special in Jan. where they would waive the signup fee if you joined. So we joined, then all the snow and bad weather came and I was able to make one excuse after another as to why I hadn't gone yet. But the excuses have run out. There's no more time to lie to myself and say I'm not that big yet, because I am!

In the past I've started exercising with all good intentions, and I would keep it up for awhile, then I would start missing days, then weeks, then pretty soon I wasn't exercising at all. So I am trying to set very short-term goals for myself, to keep myself motiviated this time. I'm setting a goal for each month and will figure out what my rewards will be each time I reach a goal.

My February goals are simple :  1. I want to get up every morning before 10 am and go to the gym.  2. I would like to lose at least 6 pounds  by the end of the month.  3. I want to start drinking more water.  When I reach these goals, I will reward myself by downloading a new game on my phone!

So, this begins my weight loss journey....

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