Updates on Our Journeys

As some of you know, I lost a lot of weight and did really well preparing for a 5K back in 2018.   That ended abruptly in a way that was very traumatic for me. I instantly lost my trainer and had all kinds of junk happen to our family that caused me to stop all of my progress.  I stopped paying attention and gained back everything that I had lost.  I couldn't make myself work out because it was a huge trauma trigger and I zoned out for a good part of a year, even though I was going through the motions and working out some.

Fast forward to April of 2019 and I was at my daughter's wedding and realized how crappy I felt.  I could barely move.  Walking was hard and while I loved being part of that day, I really felt like my health was keeping me from enjoying it fully.   A few days after we returned I went to the endocrinologist who told me that she needed to start me on some new meds for my diabetes -- going from 2 meds to 5.   I started taking them and felt absolutely horrible.   I mean I felt awful!

One day I woke up and thought "I am taking all of this medication in order to be able to eat carbs.  What if I just stopped eating carbs?"

I said something online about Keto and a couple friends really encouraged me to try it.  So I started in June with the goal of losing 20 pounds before my son Leon's wedding in September.  He had asked me to dance with him at his wedding and picked out a song, and I knew I could not possibly do that without losing weight.  (I have never danced before, but even standing through a song I knew would be hard.)

So I did it.  I dropped the 20 and went to his wedding.  On the trip I didn't pay attention and when I returned I had gained the 20 back ... plus 2.   AAAAAGH.  I gained it all back in about 9 days.  Crazy!  So I started back up again and lost that 20 by Thanksgiving, but gained some more back over Christmas.

Finally, on January 13th I started a no cheat challenge with a fiesty competitive person at work and she and I have cheated only a few times in 4 months.   I have managed to lose 27 pounds since January 13th and am 40 pounds down from where I was in September.   I have a goal to weigh less at my son Rand's upcoming June wedding than I did at mine.  I am only 10 pounds away from that goal.

All this time I have done this by just eating Keto and not adding exercise until the last two weeks when I started a very slow exercise plan in my own bedroom (easing the trauma triggers from the gym).  I am starting with a 6 minute Low Impact Seated Chair workout for the morbidly obese.  I stand for part of it, but seriously that is where I am starting.  Along with 3 sets of four arm exercises with 12 pound weights every other day.  My goal is to increase the amount of minutes by the week and the number of reps in each set.

So.... how about you?  What is your food plan?  What is your diet plan?  Share any of your history you would like to as well.  I know that sharing online is not necessarily comfortable at first, but once you get used to it you'll realize that the more you share the more accountable you can become.