Getting Started

Hello,

My name is Tami, and I am a 54 year old woman who woke up one morning and realized she had let herself go in a real bad way. I'm as addicted to food as an alcoholic is to booze. Losing weight and keeping it off is a one day at a time process for me and I'm taking that step today. A fellow weight loss friend posted a saying about food addiction on one of my comments on the weight loss website (free site, great help aides) SparkPeople.com and I just love it because it is so true: "alcoholics have to slay the dragon, while food addicts have to learn to walk the dragon three times a day." Food addiction is just as powerful as any other serious addiction, but it is unlike any other as well, because we can't live without food either. There's no going "cold turkey."    
   
It's a brand new year, and I'm no longer defining myself by my past, and what I did, or didn't do. What matters most is I'm back on this journey, and it's working just like it always has. As long as I remember to stay focused, it will continue to work. I started this journey again on May 12th, 2016, at 414 pounds. Yes, I know. That's sad. It's so sad that I had gotten to the point where I couldn't even walk from one end of my small house to the other without collapsing from the pain and gasping for air.Please stop by often and follow my journey. I've lost some weight and gotten much stronger, but I have a LONG, LONG way to go. I will post weekly weigh-ins as well as insights to what I have learned along the way, and thoughts on the process.



"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going". - Jim Ryun 

I recently joined a 5% challenge team. The goal is to lose 5% of your body weight during the 8 week challenge.

There were a few pre-challenge warm ups, and this was one of them:


Today's assignment is to list 10 reasons you want to lose weight. What do you want to change? How do you want to look? How do you want to feel? What things will you be able to do in the future with a slimmer healthier body? And list all the OTHER things that you want to change! 

My answers: 

1: Because I was getting dangerously close to being eligible for that "My 600 Pound Life" show, and it scared me silly. 
2: Because I needed to be able to breathe better 
3: Because I need to be able to walk for a normal distance 
4: I want to feel good about myself 
5: I want to be able to shop in regular clothing stores 
6: I know I won't ever have a "bikini body," but I want to be able to walk on the beach comfortably in my own skin 
7: I want to be able to jog a 5k race at least once a year 
8: I want to know I have my carb cravings completely under control 
9: I want to stop being a couch potato and never go back to that again 
10: I want to LIVE... and I mean that literally. 





This is a picture from last summer at my daughter's house with hubby and the grandkids.




It's not a great picture, but it's the only starting shot I have. At my weight, I avoided cameras like the plague, and mirrors too.

This was a picture from a few days ago. I've lost 30 pounds, but it isn't all that apparent yet in pictures. It is very apparent in the way I feel, however. And I'm up to swimming 1.5 hours per day 4 times per week. At home I also do stationary biking, stability ball work and other activities when I can't get to the gym.