Thursday, March 14, 2013

Project Hope: Started Feb 4


280 pounds on a 5 foot 4 inch frame. It's a funny feeling to know you could easily weigh less than half your current weight and still be healthy.

I've begun this journey a number of times. And I've always lost the weight and kept if as long as I exercised. However, grad school, injuries, etc have gotten in the way, again and again. So I didn't even write about the beginning of this journey until I had already established new patterns.

I'm going to be 50 on September 1. I am menopausal, and it just doesn't take a lot of calories to keep going. And I like to eat. I eat when I am happy. I eat when I am sad. I eat when I am tired, lonely, angry. I just eat. And I love sweat things.

So on Feb 4 I made a commitment to myself to change. The first four weeks I mall walked. Who knew the mall was a huge pick up place? I've had more men hit on me mall walking than I have in the last five years! LOL No worries. No man is competition when I have Cameron in my life; )

Then I bought Richard Simmon's Project Hope, which I've been doing this week. I love Richard. I have many of his videos. But project hope is awesome. Three levels of workouts so I can work my way up. And the cardio is about 20 minutes, so if I don't have a lot of time, I can still do something. He has also added weights...which I need desperately. The challenge on the first video is Balance. Oh boy do I need this challenge. It ain't pretty right now and I can't do it without a chair. But that doesn't matter. I'm doing it.

So I'm going to share this journey on my blog in all my unique brutal honesty. I am shaped like a pear, so a lot of my weight is on my arms and legs. Better for my heart, but hard on the circulation. The doctor at work is making noise about circulation and blood pressure. A lot of the weight is in what I call "fat pockets" riding over the tops of my knees, at the ankles, and hanging on my underarms. I'm hoping serious toning will prevent the need for surgery for loose skin later, but we'll see. My goal is to loose 120 pounds. While I could stand to loose more, I think that is reasonable and I can always reevaluate my goal later.

I've had two friends in the last five years die from food choices. That's not going to happen here. I'm out of grad school, done with the internship, and ready to start taking care of myself. I already move better and feel better. 

2 comments:

  1. Well, as your beloved Cameron here, its nice to know I don't have to consider guys at the mall competition, because I sure love having you in my life! Now, I do think it should be said that about a year and a half ago you changed your diet and started exercising and you lost 60 lbs. then. And you worked hard at it and made some life changes that you stuck to even after your knee injury. If your knee had not blown out walking on uneven ground after a car break down, I KNOW you would have hit your goal way back yonder and I know you would have kept it off. You had to baby and take care of that knee and let it heal, and not make it worse trying to exercise and permanently injure it by over doing. So even though losing the ability to exercise for awhile allowed some weight to build back up, you did the right thing in the long term and I am so proud of you, both for what you accomplished back then, and for what you are doing now! I love you! You rock!

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  2. Good luck, Dreamweaver! I'm rootin' for ya!

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