Taking STEPS to get HEALTHY

Today's subject follows along with the what I've learned while I've been away. It's taken me a LONG, long time but I've finally decided that my health is important. I've also figured out that I got to do the work to see the results. Now don't get me wrong. I've always known what I needed to do. I've researched it, I've bought equipment, read books, thought it through, formulated a plan and then... sat down on the couch and watched TV. I've even started watching The Biggest Loser on NBC for motivation. What did I do while watching? Sit on the couch and munch on junk. Here I am with tears in my eyes, feeling their pain but still not able to get up and DO anything.

I'll be honest, I was beginning to feel like it was too late. You know, the damage is already done, what difference can it make at this point. Last week my dad even told me that the only way I was going to lose weight was if I had surgery. Not exactly motivating. I let myself completely fall apart over it. Didn't help that I was totally PMSing. So, what did I do? Well, I turned to my best friend, who, by the way is my husband:-)

We discussed the situation. My way of dealing with any situation is usually humor and sarcasm. I joke that my DH and I are the 2k version of Dan and Rosanne Connor. Somehow when I can make everyone laugh with me it helps. Anyway, we had watched an episode of Oprah that had Dr. Oz on it. We had also Tivo'd a Discovery Health Special with Dr. Oz and we decided that maybe it was time to do this... together. The question was where do you start? I mean when you aren't doing anything it's hard to know what to do.

I'm only a week and a half into my LIFESTYLE CHANGE but I feel better. We didn't go crazy and try to make drastic overnight changes but we are taking it day by day. The big thing that we did was go out and get pedometers. We chose the pedometers that were on the Oprah special because they were highly rated and you could carry them in your pocket or even a purse. I've had problems in the past with pedometers that have to be worn on the waist for the obvious fact that my waist is missing. The only place locally that we could find them was at CVS Pharmacy. Not exactly local but we didn't want to wait to order it online. I don't know about you but any hesitation usually result in no action being taken. You probably want to know what kind we got, right???? It's the Omron Walking Style Pedometer HJ-112. If my opinion matters I highly recommend it!

I've been wearing my pedometer all day since we got them. Well, that's not true. I didn't wear in Sunday at all. I didn't even get dressed that day. Obviously I need to work on that. Anyhoo, I'm working on adding steps into my day. For health they say you should have 6,000 steps a day. For weight loss your should have 10,000. It was kind of scary to see how few steps I actually took. Actually it was eye-opening.

There are countless ways to add steps to your day and I'm doing better. The best way is do actually take the time to go on a walk. Now, I am a big girl. I don't see myself as huge but I probably am. I'm 5'3" and when I started this I weighed 255 pounds. It's considered morbidly obese. There really isn't a way to sugarcoat it. My biological grandmother has diabetes and just suffered a massive stroke on Saturday. My Grandmother that passed away last year also had diabetes and other heart related issues. I'm not in a good place physically at all. For me to get out and walk is hard. I have a lot of pain and to be honest I'm probably self-conscious. Why I care what people think I couldn't tell you.

So anyway, I could go on and on about this. My point is that I figured out a way to get more steps into my life and after these last few days I got up the nerve to get out in my neighborhood and walk. I actually walked the whole subdivision and though I can't tell you how far that is I can share my results...


Now this shows my aerobic steps that I have accumulated today. I had already done 40 minutes of walking at home before this. I'll tell you my secret to walking at home without a treadmill another day.


This is my actual total, so far, for today. Not bad for the time of day. My goal for the whole day is 10,000!!!

I'm very happy with what I'm doing. I've lost 2.5 pounds so far and feel 100% better. I still need to work on my eating habits but it's a great start. The most awesome result is that I'm seeing a much quicker recovery from physical activity. I'll take it day by day and hopefully when winter is over I'll emerge a different, healthier person. Wish me luck!