#52 Stories--Story #17

What has been your greatest physical or athletic accomplishment--an endurance race, a difficult hike, a personal health goal? how did you stay motivated to reach the finish line?

In March 2017 I began making small changes using an app on my phone called "Lifesum" to count calories and track my exercise with the goal in mind to loose 25-30 pounds.  I knew that my health needed to improve and doctors I had seen over the years would always tell me "if you lost some weight..." I knew it was time.

I had rolled along fro some time with the hope that something "magical" would come along to help me with the weight and appetite control.  But with most anything, my mom was right all along--count calories and eat less that you burn was the actual answer.  There is nothing special or exciting about a plan like that, but it is something that I could live with the rest of my life--which is really the real answer here.  I needed a lifestyle shift as mush as I needed to loose some weight.

I weighed myself to begin with and then vigilantly kept track of the portion size and calorie counts.  I would enter that into the app each day--each meal most of the time.  I saw how much something "cost me" and what amount of exercise I needed to burn that off.  Soon I was making better choices with my food selections.  Soon I was getting in to a habit of exercise-- I preferred yoga and the treadmill.

I have lost a solid 20 pounds so far.  With another 5-7 fluctuating as the days pass and my menstrual cycle comes and goes.  I have a goal for another 10-15 on top of the good 20 I have lost, but it takes time.  I have hit a plateau in the last month--since the holidays--that is vert discouraging.  But I know if I keep at it, I'll get to my goal weight and have healthy habits to show for it the rest of my life.

At my annual exam with my doctor--who does thorough blood work to really see how healthy I am--in November she told me that I was not only looking good and feeling better, but that I had lost enough weight to no longer need the simvastatin drug to combat my high cholesterol that I have been taking--at the same dosage--for almost 18 years.  I had started on that with my regular family doctor that long ago because I knew i have a family history of heart disease. Now I had made enough improvement to get off of that and be in the safe zone.  That was amazing to me.

I hope the results only to get better as I keep up with this.  I love when people tell me I look great, but it is even better to know I am taking better care of my body that it can be my friend instead of feeling like it was against me all the time.