I'm Still Going Strong...!!!

I know that I've been lazy in coming to post on my weight loss but I'm back. It's been very hard trying to lose weight and live my life...LOL...!!! I've lost a total of 11.2 lbs. since I've been back at WW. I've found that exercise has been very hard to fit into my routine. I said before how I like to walk but it has been raining so much here in Chi that walking has been almost impossible. It's raining at this very moment..."sigh"...I had planned to walk this morning but thats not going to happen. So I've been trying to do some exercising at home. I have a step machine that I've been using lately. I also want to renew my membership at Bally. I use to go to the club every morning before work and I really enjoyed that. I want to start doing that again and I think I will. I have 4.8 lbs. to lose to reach my 5% weight loss goal. I'm very exicited about it and can't wait to reach this milestone. WW has been very helpful in my "Battle". I knew that it would because before when I joined I was doing so well but fell of the wagon. This time I'm in it for the duration, I can feel it...!!!!



Tomorrow I weigh in I am hoping to have lost at least 1 lb. I made a promise to my self to not gain and ounce to consistantly lose weight every week even it's only 0.1 lb. as long as I don't gain and I've kept that promise so far...LOL...!!! I plan to post tomorrow my results lose or gain.



Until later...

My Enemy Exercise?

Exercise I've viewed as my enemy but know that it's something I have to do to reach my goal and to maintain a healthy lifestyle and weight. So I've started walking. I live near the lake front so walking is a pleasant experience. The beach is near by, there are boats, and the wild life is every where. I love my neighborhood and I love to walk in it. This is an exercise I don't mind doing. I'm also going to encorporate some toning exercises with weights and resistance bands. I have a few dvd's with some resistance workouts that I'll be doing.

Monday is my next weigh in. Last week I lost 3 lbs. I almost didn't go to my WW (weight watchers) meeting because I thought that I hadn't lost any weight and I didn't want to be disappointed. So when the leader told me what I'd lost I was pleasantly surprised. I told him that I almost didn't come and why. He said to me wasn't I glad I did come. I really was glad and the weight loss really inspired me to push forward with my "Battle".

This morning I went for my walk and I walked 2 miles. I thought that I wasn't going to finish the walk because my back was bothering me. It was really tight and in pain. Halfway through the walk I had to stop and stretch my back muscles. This help and I was able to complete the walk. I realized that I should have stretched before I started the walk, next time I will do that. I'm preparing for a 5K walk that WW is participating in. I'll keep everyone updated on my training for the walk.

See ya later

Still Fighting The Battle

I haven't blogged in quite awhile but I'm still fighting this battle with weight loss. I recently re-joined Weight Watchers because I realized long time ago that I have to be made accountable for what I put in my mouth. Weight Watchers does that for me by having weigh ins weekly. Knowing that I have to get on the scale every week keeps my in line with eating right and exercise. So I'm on track to my goal.

I'll check in later with an update.

Winning The Battle

I decided to name this blog "The Battle Has Begun" because I've been battling with my weight loss for several years now. Growing up I was always thin and never had a weight problem at all. Of course when you're young you can eat anything and not gain weight. I was very active as a child. I played softball, jumped rope until we couldn't see the rope any more and we walked everywhere we had to go. So staying thin was nothing I had to think about I just was. I started gaining weight in 1982. I had just started a new job as a leasing consultant which basically was a desk job. My boss and the other girl in the office were both bigger than me but they weren't very large women just kinda on the thick side LOL!! Well any way every morning they would go to the store that was on the ground level of the apartment building we worked in and get some kind of pastry hot chocolate. Needless to say I joined in with them. Then at lunch time we would go back to the store to buy lunch. They had a deli in the store and we would buy sandwiches, chips and some kind of soda. So to make a long story short I gained approximately 30 ponds in 1 year. I went from 129 lbs. to about 160 lbs. I didn't realize it until I couldn't wear any of my clothes and had to buy new ones. That was the begininng of my battle with weight loss. Eventually I lost those 30 lbs. but gained about 20 back. I kept that 20 for several years until I decided to do something about it. I was working out almost every day and eating healthy but I wasn't losing weight. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why but soon found out why. I was pregnant!! I couldn't believe it and I wasn't ready for a child, I thought. I had just taken my nursing boards and was waiting for my results and I could think is "how am I going to take care of a child on a cna's (certified nursing assistant) income. Well I passed my boards, I was pregnant and getting bigger every day. Another problem was who was going to hire a pregnant nurse? Fortunately I was hired (I'm still at this job 20 years later). Well gained about 50lbs. during my pregnancy putting me at a whopping 196 lbs. when I went into labor. This was largest I'd ever been in my life and I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at my self in the mirror. "Who is this persob?" My daughter was born and I went down to 160lbs. which was still big for me so I lost and additional 10 lbs. I stayed at about 150 lbs. for a couple of years then the weight started creeping back on me. After that I would lose and gain over and over again. My highest weight to date is 242 lbs. I have done Weight Watchers, Slim Fast, The Mayo Clinic Diet and a host of other weight loss programs and still I would always gain the weight back. I found the best one of all of them is Weight Watchers because it's more of a life style change than a diet. So here I am again trying to lose weight. Now my health is in jeopardy. I've developed hypertension and I know that it has a lot to do with my weight. My doctor has told me I must lose the weight. I know I should so that maybe I won't have to take high blood medication anymore and so that I don't develop any more diseases such diabetes. So I decided to change the way I do a lot of things. My eating habits, move more (exercise) and just plain take better care of my self. I started taking african dance classed once a week, something I've wanted to do for a long time now. I really enjoy the class and the instructor is great. I'm going to add some other type of exercise because african dance once a week is not enough. I'm 230 lbs right now and my long range goal is to lose 100 lbs. but I'm going to work on 10 lbs. at a time. I plan to post my weight loss every 2 weeks and take pictures once a month to track my progress.

The Battle Has Begun