So when I decided to start this journey into losing the excess weight, to becoming a healthier me I had some decisions and choices to make. I’m in my mid 50’s, I have had a serious health crisis in the past and I have some physical limitations (not that I let that stop me). One of my choices was – can I do this? How much will I have to sacrifice? What do I HAVE to give up? Who will become my buddy/fitness pal/support team?

I realized that I don’t like BIG changes in my life, I do enjoy an occasional change up in my routine, my entertainment, my extracurricular activities, etcetera however for the most part I prefer calm to chaos, I need normalcy to my daily routine it’s what keeps me from being over stressed and helps me to enjoy living better.

So what I knew is my current routine wasn’t working as it was, it wasn’t helping me in getting smaller, losing weight, living healthier, things had to change. So now that I recognized that and knew I HAD to make changes I thought how do I do that without overwhelming myself? Well I decided, start with small changes girl, I thought if I made small changes over the course of the next weeks/months/years I’d be better able to achieve my goals, be successful, stick to those changes and not revert back to old habits.

So first I needed to watch what I consumed; this meant counting calories or points, I chose to count calories and am using a program to do that; I knew I needed to start back to working out (both cardio and resistance), I knew I needed to make healthier food choices yet I also wanted to live life, enjoy my days, do my other hobbies and have relaxations in my life. I knew that I can’t give up the foods I love, but I could modify quantity and I thought I will just have to earn that ice cream, that soft pretzel, that wine or cocktail when I wanted them or had them!

My first step was calorie counting. Let’s face it, you have to count for everything you stick in your mouth, any successful weight loss program/group or loser will tell you that. I joined a on-line program, I chose to lose a pound a week – no big endeavors for me, I didn’t want to starve and I didn’t want to lose it too quickly, I need my skin to shrink back slowly, I’m okay taking a year or 3 to get to my long term goal.

 Let me tell you, I was hungry A LOT; I went over my daily allotted calories, A LOT. So that led me to my next small change, get more calories into your daily allotment. So then I picked up the cardio routine.

So I started walking on the treadmill, this I did in small changes too, like 3 times a week for 30 minutes. I realized that I needed to get up and do my work out before I got involved in my day – coming home after work and trying to dedicate to a workout didn’t always work for me, so I got up 30 minutes earlier than before, iced my feet and then put on those sneakers and hit the belt. So what do you know, I managed to stay on track, get those work outs and earn those extra calories. Now I was seeing days I had extra calories and this meant I had weigh-ins with losses and I wasn’t starving so much. I do know this, when I first started cutting back on my calories it took about 2 weeks for me to stop feeling hungry all the time, so endure, hang in there, it gets better; you need to shrink that stomach. With that said I DO NOT want to over eat and then stretch that stomach again.

Well now I was ready to earn more calories so I then added more time on the treadmill, then I added another day or two, the stationary bike here and there to give my aching feet a break; I’ve been happily pleased with how far I’ve come, yes, I had to get up earlier, but for the most part it is worth it. Next I started being better about what I was eating, pushing myself to not cave in for that treat, that goodie, that unhealthy food. I do still cheat, I do still fall short and I do still get some moments of being hungry and some weekly weigh –ins are not as wonderful as I’d like them to be, but for the past 3 months it is a steady loss and that’s enough to keep my going.

Now I moved into wanting more, needing to be better, do more yet not over do. So I now wanted to get back to lifting weights, something I have done for years, something I enjoy as I liked being strong, I hate having weakness in myself and lifting weights gives me confidence and strength along with fitness. So I then got up a little earlier some days to get some lifting done after my cardio. I’m now up to 75 minutes earlier than I use to get up before working out, this allows me time to ice those feet (yes, I have endured plantar fasciitis for over 12 years and refuse to stop doing because of it), get my body moving, get my workouts in, soak in the hot tub, get cleaned up and dressed, eat breakfast and get out the door for work. Some days I am rushing but it’s better than coming home from a long day of work and then trying to fit my working out in before eating dinner and heading to bed and yes, I do go to bed earlier than before but I believe in getting that 7-8 hours of much needed sleep.

Now I’m ready to get more from my workouts so I’m modifying my workouts to maximize my resistance routines, we’ll see how this goes and I will re-evaluate after 4-6 weeks of trying this.

For the most part I look forward to my workouts and on the one day I dedicate to no working out, getting an extra hour of sleep I now have to make myself relax and enjoy that day of rest; keep in mind, I do miss an occasional workout day or short change my workout in addition, I do get tired, I do get sick and I do get busy and fall short, but this routine is my new normalcy and it is working for me.

As for my eating routine, well I’m still working on that but I have noticed the more I get away from sugar the sweeter and unappealing sweets are, the less I eat processed foods, the better I feel and when I do introduce them I realize how bad they make me feel; eventually those ‘bad foods’ will be very far and few and hopefully non-existent in my life, but making the small changes works for me and this I need to continue.

So thankfully I have 1 great workout support person (thank you honey), we both work at cardio and lifting and watching what we consume, what choices we make and it helps to have that support. I’m hoping that you too can join us in reaching a healthy goal by the end of this year and be a winner too. You know what you have to do and who to reach out to, so get to it or I’m winning this year!

Remember ~ Slow and steady wins the race.