Weighing in on obesity
This story is not new or startiling by any means, I am obese, and have been for at least the last 30 years. I might be lucky, only because I do not have diabetes, and my cholesterol, at last check in August of 2009, is in the normal range.
What I do have, however, is the ability to change the course that I took to get here, and that is not easy by any means. Not easy in the sense that change is difficult in the big picture but easy in small steps.
The first small step I took was looking into different forms of weight loss. There are a million ways to lose the weight, but in reality only one way to keep it off. Weight Watchers, Nutri System, Bariactric Bypass, the Gazelle, Ty-bow, Yoga, Pilate's, South Beach Diet, Atkins Diet, Lap-band, Diet M.D., Ballys ect....
In September of 2009 I signed up at Millers Gym with a personal trainer, Mike Karban, you may have read about him in the column "Getting to Know You" back in December of 2009. I have this love/hate relationship with him, because you see I love the results but hate the work, but as long as I am getting the results, the work I so dearly hate, is going to get done.
The work-out started out fairly simple, squats, crunches leg lifts. But oh, was I fooled, the day after the first work-out I almost didn't get out of bed, my legs felt like lead weights, not to mention the rest of my body, but I persevered. I showed up every session, Mike wrote down everything that I did, and now, when I look back at where I am and where I was, the results are pretty AWESOME!
Then Mike (I believe one of my friends referred to him as a Monster)a fter about a month of working with him 3 days a week, hit me with cardio. I cannot believe I would have to get on a treadmill when I am already lifting weights, isn't that enough? No, because you see, if the cardio isn't good you cannot keep up with the weightlifting. And through all of that, I just kept telling myself, "Sue take it easy and just listen to him, it's all good, you can get through this." And somehow I managed. I still struggle, but at least I still do it, and it is still manageable.
The diet is in the process of being worked out. I am a former food addict-- donut a day--so I cannot stop eating, and the mind over matter bit, well that's like me trying to explain Reikki to the average person(don't ask). All I can add to this subject is that what you put in your mouth matters in terms of energy, sustainability, and lean muscle mass when you are doing weight lifting and cardio.
After 9 months, I lost 80 lbs. and am still on the journey. If you need to lose weight, and at this time, have not started to think about the benefits that it can offer you, ask yourself this, do you matter to someone else? I matter to my family, friends and clients, and I would like to think that they would want me around for years to come in an active, productive and meaningful way.
The biggest step is the first step.
To your health!