By Joan Anderson. Check out the copy in my Amazon Reading Section. It was kind of serendipitous as it kind of just jumped out at me while I was walking in the bookstore. She has written three books and I am currently on book number three! It took me less than a week to finish the first two. I bring this up because it caused me to look back at what has taken place over the past three years and realize that I indeed have accomplished a great deal. Its just that I sometimes don't give myself credit. It all started 3 years ago when I made the decision to quit drinking. I had struggled though AA, sponsors, a week of inpatient treatment, the works and nothing was working. I spent 24 hours angry and praying to God in my house one day and begged and challenged him to take it away from me. And he did. (More about that later) I don't want to give the impression that its easy and that it works just like that for everyone. But it was and still remains a miracle to me. I asked, he answered, I honor him every day because of it. Two years later I was exhausted. I believe the alcohol had depleted all of my vitamins and minerals in my body. I was craving sugar like crazy, and tired ALL OF THE TIME. As a fat woman who has tried every diet, read everything there was on losing weight I honestly believed I was doing everything I could to eat right, and yet I was extremely exhausted. Getting up, going to work took all of my energy. The rest of the time was spent on a couch, or sleeping. It wasn't healthy and it wasn't the way I wanted to live. So, one day I woke up and vowed to track my calories and record everything I ate for one week. The first day when I could swear I was eating healthy, I totaled 4200 calories. The second day was no better, and so on. The meals weren't bad it was the level in which I was snacking, putting things in my mouth without paying attention.
I decided to hire a nutritionist and for four months we focused on increasing my energy levels, and getting my eating habits under control. It was helpful because I met with her once every other week and kept in touch and asked questions almost daily. Four months later (losing weight wasn't the goal, getting my energy back was the first goal), I had not lost weight, but the energy was back and I was ready to get moving.
I then hired a personal trainer. (Recommended by my nutritionist) Many of us think we can do this all on our own. We purchase a fitness club membership and never go, we work out at a pace that snails could beat and tell ourselves we are really working hard at it. A personal trainer, a nutritionist can see through the deception and call us on it. Of course all of this costs money, although we may be able to find a nutritionist and fitness help through our insurance, for me I found that what I had been spending on alcohol, fitness equipment, health magazines, health products added up to the investment. I was already spending a monthly payment to a nutritionist or fitness trainer on all this other stuff, including larger clothese!
For me, I needed the coach. Once I had the eating habits in place, my work with the nutritionist was over and I picked up a personal trainer 2 30 minute sessions a week. Later I added a Saturday morning group class.
Currently I am researching a Masters Adult Swim group, complete with a coach one night a week for about $150 for the Fall/Winter season. I share this because I have come to believe that we can't try to do it all at once nor all on our own. As a large woman, I have spent so much time avoiding places and people as if to hide myself, or make myself invisible. The truth is I am fat. But its not as bad out there as you think. There are people who want to help and have a genuine interest in working with you. And most people aren't looking at your fat butt, or the fact that you are a size 5x. They are mostly thinking about their own reasons for being there.
The difference between a franchise gym and personal trainer, is that you get one on one time in a much smaller setting. Usually there are never more than 15 people in the room at one time. You can tell the trainer what you can and can't do, they can help you with the pain. A good trainer doesn't want you to have chronic pain. And they will work with you at your pace.
So, my investment over the past 8 months has been about $350 per month. I feel better, I have more energy, and I am now picking up the pace with exercise. My balance is better, my mood more joyful. But it took some time. I didn't do it all at once. But I did do it one step at a time. I do think that it will take a full year for me to get into a pace where weight loss is gradual. But I feel stronger every day, my clothes are looser, my confidence in my abilities greater.
In her book, Joan Anderson asks us to look back over your year and map what we did while marking it if we did it for someone else, if we did it because we had to, if we enjoyed it or not and did it anyway, and what we did for ourselves.
I was quite happy when I realized that over the past year I had done more than I thought to take care of myself. Granted, there is still much work to do, but I know that if I tackle it one at a time, I will be successful. And when you achieve some success in one area of your life, you will want to try and achieve more.
No comments:
Post a Comment