New Member Introduction (kinda long)

[Guest guest]

Hi all, I am new to this group. I've been on WW in the past, but

didn't last long enough to lose weight. I was motivated the first

week or so then gave up the fight because the scale showed I wasn't

losing. I just couldn't do it. My daughter is on WW now and I am

thinking about returning but this time signing up for the Core plan.

If anyone has information about Core, let me know.

By way of introduction let me tell you some of my story. Recently I

discovered I was developing hypertension and was put on Beta-

Blockers. I hated the way the drug was making me feel and decided to

find healthy ways to lower my blood pressure. I knew my problems

were caused by a combination of being overweight, menopausal, on the

wrong diet, and was also learning that my diet was short on Omega

oils and various other nutrients. My father suffered a stroke when

he was about my age and it disabled him for the remainder of his

life. The last thing I want is a stroke or any of the other maladies

that come from consistently high blood pressure. So, I adjusted my

diet first. I removed coffee, tea, sugar, saturated fats, along with

anything made of white flour, started talking Omega oils along with

my regular vitamins and added raw vegetables during the days and a

sugarless homemade fruit smoothie in the mornings. With all this at

the end of a month my blood pressure was only slightly less.

For Christmas I got an Omron Walking Style pedometer which is the

most awesome pedometer I've ever used. It keeps track of steps,

aerobic steps, calories burned and miles walked for 7 days. On

Christmas day I put it on and by the end of the day I had walked

2385 steps and thought to myself `no wonder I am not losing

weight'. My work requires that I sit at a computer all day and I

rarely take the time to add walking or exercise into my day. The

challenge I made to myself on Christmas day was to start walking the

10,000 step program ( http://www.shapeup.org/10000steps.html ) and

try to reach that goal daily.

On the day after Christmas I got on the treadmill in our apartment

workout area and started. I walked 2 miles in the morning and 2

miles in the evening at about 3.6 to 3.7 mph and by the end of the

day I had walked 11,894 steps or 5.25 miles, 8,254 of which were

recorded by the pedometer as aerobic steps and I burned 452

calories. By the end of the year on 12/31/04, I had walked a total

of 25.69 miles, burned 2,236 calories and walked 58,233 steps of

which 33,085 were aerobic.

I'm actually starting to feel better. My blood pressure has come

down from an average of 150/85 to 117/75! I realized that I had

found the key to control my blood pressure. And best of all I'm

burning enough extra calories to lose about a pound a week without

severely restricting my diet.

My personal challenge is to continue 10,000 steps per day. In the

short time I've been walking I feel more flexible, stronger,

thinner, and healthier. I am motivated more then I ever have been

because now I realize I can no longer allow myself the luxury of

ignoring exercise, healthy eating, and losing the excess pounds.

When I was younger I was able to take vitamins and eat pretty much

whatever I wanted without feeling bad (including sugary deserts like

cakes, pies, cookies or my favorite nachos) and even though I stayed

a constant 50 lbs overweight, I was basically healthy most likely

due to the vitamins. But, now as I pass through menopause I feel bad

effects from eating excess salt, pastries, candy, cookies, sugar and

caffeine.

My blood pressure was 107/73 at noon today. Yippee! And, yesterday I

walked 12,083 steps or 5.33 miles. All my life I have struggled to

lose weight. I seem to have always been about 50lbs overweight.

There was a year or two that I got into jogging and went for 2 mile

runs everyday. That was the year I not only lost all the weight I

needed to lose, but felt the most flexible, energetic and healthy I

had ever been.

Putting two and two together I finally understand (not just give

assent to) that losing weight happens when you burn extra calories

or eat fewer calories. But, even more important then losing the

weight to me, is feeling good and having energy to live well. For

the last couple years I've noticed my body ached when I got up from

bed in the morning. I knew it had to do with growing older, but it

made me feel aged and feeble. After only 26+ miles walking I wake up

with no aches in my body. I am totally amazed!

Eating right is one part of a multi-part solution, but this is the

first time in years that I can truly say I understand the key to

weight loss and good health is more then diet. If you diet without

exercise you may lose pounds but you're sure to lose vitality.

Any of you reading this, I challenge you to the 10,000 steps a day

program. If you want to get started let me know and we can start

supporting each other.

God bless you all this New Year!

Kathleen

rarepixel@...

[Guest guest]

Welcome! Your exercise commitment is inspiring! Hope to get to

know you better!

Crystal

>

> Hi all, I am new to this group. I've been on WW in the past, but

> didn't last long enough to lose weight. I was motivated the first

> week or so then gave up the fight because the scale showed I

wasn't

> losing. I just couldn't do it. My daughter is on WW now and I am

> thinking about returning but this time signing up for the Core

plan.

> If anyone has information about Core, let me know.

>

> By way of introduction let me tell you some of my story. Recently

I

> discovered I was developing hypertension and was put on Beta-

> Blockers. I hated the way the drug was making me feel and decided

to

> find healthy ways to lower my blood pressure. I knew my problems

> were caused by a combination of being overweight, menopausal, on

the

> wrong diet, and was also learning that my diet was short on Omega

> oils and various other nutrients. My father suffered a stroke when

> he was about my age and it disabled him for the remainder of his

> life. The last thing I want is a stroke or any of the other

maladies

> that come from consistently high blood pressure. So, I adjusted my

> diet first. I removed coffee, tea, sugar, saturated fats, along

with

> anything made of white flour, started talking Omega oils along

with

> my regular vitamins and added raw vegetables during the days and a

> sugarless homemade fruit smoothie in the mornings. With all this

at

> the end of a month my blood pressure was only slightly less.

>

> For Christmas I got an Omron Walking Style pedometer which is the

> most awesome pedometer I've ever used. It keeps track of steps,

> aerobic steps, calories burned and miles walked for 7 days. On

> Christmas day I put it on and by the end of the day I had walked

> 2385 steps and thought to myself `no wonder I am not losing

> weight'. My work requires that I sit at a computer all day and I

> rarely take the time to add walking or exercise into my day. The

> challenge I made to myself on Christmas day was to start walking

the

> 10,000 step program ( http://www.shapeup.org/10000steps.html ) and

> try to reach that goal daily.

>

> On the day after Christmas I got on the treadmill in our apartment

> workout area and started. I walked 2 miles in the morning and 2

> miles in the evening at about 3.6 to 3.7 mph and by the end of the

> day I had walked 11,894 steps or 5.25 miles, 8,254 of which were

> recorded by the pedometer as aerobic steps and I burned 452

> calories. By the end of the year on 12/31/04, I had walked a total

> of 25.69 miles, burned 2,236 calories and walked 58,233 steps of

> which 33,085 were aerobic.

>

> I'm actually starting to feel better. My blood pressure has come

> down from an average of 150/85 to 117/75! I realized that I had

> found the key to control my blood pressure. And best of all I'm

> burning enough extra calories to lose about a pound a week without

> severely restricting my diet.

>

> My personal challenge is to continue 10,000 steps per day. In the

> short time I've been walking I feel more flexible, stronger,

> thinner, and healthier. I am motivated more then I ever have been

> because now I realize I can no longer allow myself the luxury of

> ignoring exercise, healthy eating, and losing the excess pounds.

> When I was younger I was able to take vitamins and eat pretty much

> whatever I wanted without feeling bad (including sugary deserts

like

> cakes, pies, cookies or my favorite nachos) and even though I

stayed

> a constant 50 lbs overweight, I was basically healthy most likely

> due to the vitamins. But, now as I pass through menopause I feel

bad

> effects from eating excess salt, pastries, candy, cookies, sugar

and

> caffeine.

>

> My blood pressure was 107/73 at noon today. Yippee! And, yesterday

I

> walked 12,083 steps or 5.33 miles. All my life I have struggled to

> lose weight. I seem to have always been about 50lbs overweight.

> There was a year or two that I got into jogging and went for 2

mile

> runs everyday. That was the year I not only lost all the weight I

> needed to lose, but felt the most flexible, energetic and healthy

I

> had ever been.

>

> Putting two and two together I finally understand (not just give

> assent to) that losing weight happens when you burn extra calories

> or eat fewer calories. But, even more important then losing the

> weight to me, is feeling good and having energy to live well. For

> the last couple years I've noticed my body ached when I got up

from

> bed in the morning. I knew it had to do with growing older, but it

> made me feel aged and feeble. After only 26+ miles walking I wake

up

> with no aches in my body. I am totally amazed!

>

> Eating right is one part of a multi-part solution, but this is the

> first time in years that I can truly say I understand the key to

> weight loss and good health is more then diet. If you diet without

> exercise you may lose pounds but you're sure to lose vitality.

>

> Any of you reading this, I challenge you to the 10,000 steps a day

> program. If you want to get started let me know and we can start

> supporting each other.

>

> God bless you all this New Year!

> Kathleen

> rarepixel@y...

[Guest guest]

Welcome Kathleen!!!

At 05:06 PM 1/3/2005, Kathleen wrote:

>Hi all, I am new to this group. I've been on WW in the past, but

>didn't last long enough to lose weight. I was motivated the first

>week or so then gave up the fight because the scale showed I wasn't

>losing. I just couldn't do it. My daughter is on WW now and I am

>thinking about returning but this time signing up for the Core plan.

>If anyone has information about Core, let me know.

There are a lot of websites out there. If you google core weight watchers

you'll find a number of them. I'm a flexie kinda girl all the way, myself.

But I agree that there are some definite benefits to Core and it sounds

like it might be right up your alley.

>By way of introduction let me tell you some of my story. Recently I

>discovered I was developing hypertension and was put on Beta-

>Blockers. I hated the way the drug was making me feel and decided to

>find healthy ways to lower my blood pressure. I knew my problems

>were caused by a combination of being overweight, menopausal, on the

>wrong diet, and was also learning that my diet was short on Omega

>oils and various other nutrients. My father suffered a stroke when

>he was about my age and it disabled him for the remainder of his

>life. The last thing I want is a stroke or any of the other maladies

>that come from consistently high blood pressure. So, I adjusted my

>diet first. I removed coffee, tea, sugar, saturated fats, along with

>anything made of white flour, started talking Omega oils along with

>my regular vitamins and added raw vegetables during the days and a

>sugarless homemade fruit smoothie in the mornings. With all this at

>the end of a month my blood pressure was only slightly less.

Less is less! That's excellent! Congratulations for wanting to take control

of your health instead of allowing bad health to control you. A major

motivation for me was watching a coworker with severe diabetes due to

morbid obesity suffer through daily life. He was NOT that much older than I

am and literally it was like watching someone commit suicide with food,

slowly. He wasn't living, he was dying...day to day, a little more each

day. That scared me because there but for the grace of God go I! At 222

pounds and growing all the time, there was no reason to believe I could

magically escape those issues just because I am me.

>For Christmas I got an Omron Walking Style pedometer which is the

>most awesome pedometer I've ever used. It keeps track of steps,

>aerobic steps, calories burned and miles walked for 7 days. On

>Christmas day I put it on and by the end of the day I had walked

>2385 steps and thought to myself `no wonder I am not losing

>weight'. My work requires that I sit at a computer all day and I

>rarely take the time to add walking or exercise into my day. The

>challenge I made to myself on Christmas day was to start walking the

>10,000 step program ( http://www.shapeup.org/10000steps.html ) and

>try to reach that goal daily.

Excellent! Isn't it amazing how much exercise improves all sorts of aspects

of your life? I know that now that I run every day I am not only thinner

and healthier, but I have a better outlook, my mood swings are almost

nonexistant, and I am much more self confident.

You should consider taking your show on the road! Come spring there will be

a ton of fun runs and walks. Almost all runs allow walkers. It's a great

way to see different areas around where you live, meet other people, and

support a charity. You will see people of all shapes and sizes there, so it

isn't like you'd be out of place at all. Plus it gives you a goal to work

towards. Your 10,000 steps a day are prepping you for a 5k or even a 10k

walk, or even more. The MS walk is 8 miles and a lot of fun.

>On the day after Christmas I got on the treadmill in our apartment

>workout area and started. I walked 2 miles in the morning and 2

>miles in the evening at about 3.6 to 3.7 mph and by the end of the

>day I had walked 11,894 steps or 5.25 miles, 8,254 of which were

>recorded by the pedometer as aerobic steps and I burned 452

>calories. By the end of the year on 12/31/04, I had walked a total

>of 25.69 miles, burned 2,236 calories and walked 58,233 steps of

>which 33,085 were aerobic.

Wooo! Go Kathleen! Get yer groove on!

>I'm actually starting to feel better. My blood pressure has come

>down from an average of 150/85 to 117/75! I realized that I had

>found the key to control my blood pressure. And best of all I'm

>burning enough extra calories to lose about a pound a week without

>severely restricting my diet.

Exercise is an amazing thing! Sometimes I swear I'm addicted to it. I just

love all the benefits of it. You have a very tangible benefit! What has

your doctor said?

>My personal challenge is to continue 10,000 steps per day. In the

>short time I've been walking I feel more flexible, stronger,

>thinner, and healthier. I am motivated more then I ever have been

>because now I realize I can no longer allow myself the luxury of

>ignoring exercise, healthy eating, and losing the excess pounds.

>When I was younger I was able to take vitamins and eat pretty much

>whatever I wanted without feeling bad (including sugary deserts like

>cakes, pies, cookies or my favorite nachos) and even though I stayed

>a constant 50 lbs overweight, I was basically healthy most likely

>due to the vitamins. But, now as I pass through menopause I feel bad

>effects from eating excess salt, pastries, candy, cookies, sugar and

>caffeine.

Yeah when I was younger I could eat just about anything. Now I can't eat

high fat stuff at all (partially because I'm missing part of my happy

little pancreas and have no gall bladder), and too much sugar gives me a

headache. I guess that's just the way it is! In a way it's almost nice. I

know if I go above about 15% fat in my day, I will end up with pancreatitis

at some point. That is a mistake I do not make very often because

pancreatitis sucks the big wongarino! So it helps keep me on the straight

and narrow.

However at the age of " pushing 40 " I am healthier than I have ever been in

my entire life. I missed years of being able to dress in cute clothes and

prance around in shorts (although I wore shorts I didn't prance much). Now

for the first time I can shop in places like " Forever 21 " and the dream of

being able to shop in the 5 7 and 9 shop was short lived because 5 is too

big! Most importantly I know that while I can't control all aspects of my

health (as a pancreatic tumor just after meeting goal let me know), I am

controlling all that I can. That makes me feel powerful and strong!

>My blood pressure was 107/73 at noon today. Yippee! And, yesterday I

>walked 12,083 steps or 5.33 miles. All my life I have struggled to

>lose weight. I seem to have always been about 50lbs overweight.

>There was a year or two that I got into jogging and went for 2 mile

>runs everyday. That was the year I not only lost all the weight I

>needed to lose, but felt the most flexible, energetic and healthy I

>had ever been.

I love running and try not to miss a day doing it. My goal is to run every

day this year, as allowed (I may have another surgery). I went out today

after work and ran in the freezing cold as the sun was setting. The sky was

red, orange, and pink, the air was crisp. It was amazing and it felt good

to be alive.

>Putting two and two together I finally understand (not just give

>assent to) that losing weight happens when you burn extra calories

>or eat fewer calories. But, even more important then losing the

>weight to me, is feeling good and having energy to live well. For

>the last couple years I've noticed my body ached when I got up from

>bed in the morning. I knew it had to do with growing older, but it

>made me feel aged and feeble. After only 26+ miles walking I wake up

>with no aches in my body. I am totally amazed!

Amen Sister!!

>Eating right is one part of a multi-part solution, but this is the

>first time in years that I can truly say I understand the key to

>weight loss and good health is more then diet. If you diet without

>exercise you may lose pounds but you're sure to lose vitality.

Yes, and there is a huge difference in how you look and feel. You can be

120 pounds out of shape and unhealthy, or you can be 120 pounds in great

shape and very healthy. Diet alone does not make a healthy person. Diet and

exercise do. (Good diet, obviously.)

>Any of you reading this, I challenge you to the 10,000 steps a day

>program. If you want to get started let me know and we can start

>supporting each other.

If I weren't already running an average of 25 miles a week I'd join you! We

could all do a personal fitness goal challenge! Mine is to move to running

an average of 30 miles a week in preparation for a marathon.

>God bless you all this New Year!

>Kathleen

>rarepixel@...

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