I can now do 6 push ups and not feel like my wrists and arms are going to give out so I'm getting there, slowly but it is working. Started doing step aerobic workouts and they are a nice change for me to get the exercise without just using a boring treadmill. The stationary bike I am riding also has moving handles so it is a good workout for my arms as well, just have to find a place now in the house to put it so I don't freeze using it out on our back patio. It is a closed patio but still gets cold and this last week has been great with temps in the 70's but that is said to end in a few days and go back to only being in the 40's again or colder so I'll need to find some place to put the bike inside.

I can finally say I am enjoying my life, with all it's ups and downs that it has one now that is down and going to stay that way is my weight. I can actually say I am "half" the person I use to be....or almost half anyway and feel great. After reading other blogs and goals ones have set I know that losing weight is one that I can and did reach! I can't control the weather or even my seizures but my weight is one thing I do have control over and it will never have control over me again like it use to. Just for a quick fill in I started my journey before I joined or even knew about GHF but one morning when I tipped the scale at 306 or somewhere in that area and almost passed out. I stepped off and said that's it I'm losing weight even if I have just not eat but it's going...I didn't have any special diet or workout plans just stopped eating 2nd and 3rd helpings and slowly but surely it starting going down. Now 6 years later, I finally found a place to go each day and get some help, good workouts and healthy eating habits to keep the weight off. I got on the scale this morning and it was only 160, the weight I should have always been at. I'm eating breakfast again and a small meal at noon and in the evening with a snack or 2 in between and feeling good, getting good foods no junky stuff, working out at least 3 days a week without hurting myself and enjoying it.

Wednesday I had some outpatient surgery done and have had to take it easy on the exercising since I now have stitches in my abdomen both in the middle and lower area. I waited a few days and started back today with just the simple workouts and it didn't hurt, not yet anyway. I was sure I would gain during this time without any exercise but actually lost 2 pounds so can't complain there. Have a week to do my "regular" workouts again and then have to go in for a 96 hour video EEG which won't be fun. I can't leave my room once it is started so I'm going to check and see if I can bring my laptop and exercise mat to still do some exercising while in the hospital. I've never had a video EEG so this will be new and since they will do things to make me have seizures I don't think it will be much fun. Oh well, if they can figure out how to get them under control and things go well I might actually get to drive again. Guess things could be worse so I'm not complaining and just glad I finally found a doctor who wants to really help me get this mess under control.

After just wanting to say forget it and come up with some lame excuse for quitting, I told myself one more time and then we'll see. Wednesday I did my usual workouts and then needed to get on the treadmill for 20 minutes, I kept finding other things to do to put that off, but finally told myself just do it. Got on and felt good, was able to walk a mile in less than 15 minutes and did 5 more to cool down, was hot and sweaty but felt good and just glad I gave myself that extra push. Yesterday was my day to let my muscles rest so just some simple work around the house and played bridge in the afternoon, gets me out of the house and was fun coming in 2nd place being that I'm the beginner in this group of life master bridge players. Today, back to the workouts and treadmill but feel ok right now and will get them done.

After 3 tries I just sent the pictures to Julia so she knows what I use to look like and what I'm like now. The old me is terrible and the new one is almost to her goal of weight loss. It has taken almost 15 years for me to get serious about losing weight, I started about 5 years ago but it has really just been this past year, even with pounds off, that the healthy eating and proper exercising were added to my program. Thanks to GHF I have some good workouts that I now do to help tighten up all the stretched out skin and to eat healthy. I tried some other ways but none of them were healthy or long lasting until I got serious and started doing it correctly. I figure if I can do it, anyone can, so hang in there and just know if you really want the weight off and to stay in good shape, body, mind and spirit...YOU can!

I think this has been the first time in months when I was eating breakfast, lunch and a small dinner with a snack in-between and actually felt hungry. I am keeping track and just small amounts to be satisfied but am trying to eat 3 to 5 times a day, exercise and maintain a healthy weight. I finally bought some low calorie foods to make a good salad for lunch with some grilled chicken and then tunafish and wheat crackers for dinner with fresh fruits to snack on, grapes and a banana.
2 days in a row now I have eaten 3 regular meals and a small snack in the afternoon and around 9pm when I have to take medicine and haven't gained weight.

This past week-end I was at a bridge tournament in Baltimore, so that included eating out at some resturants that I usually never go to. I ate more in the 4 days away than usual, or at least I thought I did. My exercise wasn't as heavy as when I'm home but I did plenty of walking and some of the quick ab work outs. Got on the scale this morning thinking I would have gained 10 pounds and I actually lost 6 instead. I have some telling me I am getting to thin but still feel like I need to tighten up my waist and any other area that looks like excess fat or in some cases I know it is just skin (the down fall of losing over 100 pounds).

I've been doing the workouts that Julia suggested and noticed that when I have a day to rest but not change my diet I seem to gain a few pounds. I then have a day of full workouts and lose those pounds again but I'm not sure if it is because I did the workout or because I backed off on my diet intake. I eat breakfast and then do my morning workout leaving myself not feeling hungry so I don't eat again until late afternoon or evening. This 4-6 times a day of eating is a challenge because I just can't eat when I'm not hungry. I have programed my mind to only eat when I feel hungry so there are days when I only eat twice and others when I might eat 4 times through out the day. I'm still working on the program Dr. Frank has mentioned and am getting my mind under control, or should I say getting my mind to think positives and remember what is good and necessary to keep me healthy. I still wonder if I'm doing this stuff correct, but was told last night that someone who hadn't seen me for 2 months has noticed my weight loss. I have only loss 5 pounds but tightened up muscle and excess skin that I got from being 150+ overweight and stretched it to the max. It takes an outsider noticing a change to let me know because it seems to look the same to me.

I think I finally found that inbetween spot so I know I'm not under using each set of muscles or overdoing them all. I had myself believing that I had to exercise everyday or I'd gain my weight back but started overdoing some and just added strain and pain to my back and other areas that weren't ready for a daily workout.
Today is my day to let them rest but just really keep tract of what I eat and still get out and walk just for enjoyment tho and not endurance.
I am starting to eat at least 2 good meals a day and notice that when I do eat breakfast I have better days than the ones when I was skipping it and then being really hungry by 12 or 1 in the afternoon.

I've always hated rollercoaster but especially when it comes to my weight. At one point in my life tho I forgot about me and totally focused on my daughter and then husband. She was a newborn baby and he almost died in a car accident so I didn't have time to worry about me. My weight went up and down and after a few years when things were getting worse in the marriage and my daughter was being cared for by my mom, I got on the scale and almost ended my life that night. I had reached a weight I never thought would be possible and that night said "that's it, I either lose weight or end my life." Well obviously I chose the lose weight road and set a goal weight without any specific times or special diets just that I was going to lose weight even if it meant starve myself. Part of my weight loss also meant that things had to change not just for me but for my daughter and her dad, that is when the other big change came and it was to file for a divorce and get him out of my life as much as possible. He is under care of professionals now and I don't have spend my time worrying about him anymore. That was a plus for awhile until I started getting bored because I didn't have anything to do now, my daughter relys on her grandmother and aunt so she didn't seem to need me...so what was I to do now to keep losing weight. I started some different exercising programs but then my back went out and I ended up in the hospital so exercising didn't seem right at least not until my back healed up a bit. I was on my own just looking for things to do to keep me away from food, to do some kind of work to stay in somewhat ok shape and not go insane. It has been as challenge and at times I was ready to give up and just forget all that I had lost and eat what I wanted and not care what I weighed or just end my life, as some say "the easy way out". Self-injury is easy but total ending wasn't, I chickened out and started playing bridge to keep my mind occupied and when I found a place on line to play I also found some friends who for some reason actually cared and helped me through some of really low times I've had in the past few years. I decided it was time to start exercising more than just my hands at that computer and got online looking for some ideas and found the global fitness program. I started reading about it and the positive motivations as well as Dr. Franks writings and looked into his solutions as well....being on a fixed income I decided to try and see if these 2 would really do any good.