Better late than never, better NOW than later!

[Metal Tes]

Hi all! So, I actually discovered this place in April, said to myself YEAH!! This is exactly what I need! Started getting the newsletters and read every one with gusto...and a vanilla coke...yeah. Part of me knew how freakin awesome I could potentially be, the other part of me is just plain lazy. Well, since April a few things have changed for the better. I haven't cut out anything completely, but I have seriously reduced the amount of bread and pasta we eat, I try to make everything we eat be at least 50% vegetables. I do NOT have a soda every day anymore, not even close. Sometimes I go all week without one, and when I do cave in & have one, I get two glasses out & share a can with my boyfriend. I am loving the "I should do that" rule! I owe a dozen pushups to myself, on the spot, if I say I SHOULD do anything! Love it!!

So, a little back story - my whole life I could eat whatever I wanted and do whatever I wanted and not gain an ounce...I was active enough, walked a lot, and usually had jobs that kept me moving to some degree, and that was enough to keep me lean, fit and strong. Then I found out I have the arthritis of an 80 year old in my neck. Degenerative disc disease. Great. Found this out when it took 2 years of PT to recover from slipping and falling on the ice. REALLY?? Highly annoying. I have it because my scoliosis caused my vertebrae to rub on each other & wear out in an unnatural way, basically. Slowly but surely though, I eventually got most of strength back in my arms and shoulders. My boss at work called me the strong girl, as I could carry more boxes of frozen bread dough around at once than anyone else in the place! Then I got rear-ended. My neck did NOT like that! A couple weeks later, I'm in another accident, almost flipped over the guard rail onto the highway below! Luckily, we did NOT, also lucky I was still wearing a neckbrace from the last accident, or surely it would have been even worse. But my neck has not been the same since, and my strength has slowly ebbed away.

Then I turned 40. I swear, all in the same week, my hair turned grey, my skin went to hell and my metabolism slowed to a crawl. But hmmm...I also quit working on my feet all day and started working from home, sitting on my rump in front of either a computer or a table all day! Yeah, I'm sure that had NOTHING to do with these extra pounds I am now carrying around! I'm sure I can't blame it ALL on turning 40...that was over a year ago...and the silver streaks are actually kinda cool. But now I find myself, 41 years old, weak, and getting fat. I need to reverse that NOW. Well...the last 2 anyway.

So, in addition to the changes I have started making, we also got a treadmill, and as of last week I decided that I have to walk to work! I leave the kitchen and do at least 30 minutes on the treadmill to get to work! Luckily, my "office" has showers, and a kitchen! No excuses now, and I have to get home the same way...haha! I have started doing my old PT exercises again, I am determined that I WILL regain my old strength...I did it before, I can do it again.

One thing I think will really help me to keep at it and push myself harder at this point, is accountability. So here I am, feel free to give me a hard time if I'm not doing what I should! Heck, give me a hard time anyway, just to keep me on my toes! I'm ready to take charge of my own fate now, and I'm totally IN for the next 6 week challenge!!

Oh, you should know, I tend to either ramble on somewhat erratically, or say very little...I don't seem to have an in-between setting...you have been warned! This here would be the "random babble" setting, as I really don't need to be going on & on, so before I go off in some other direction, I shall leave it at that!

Any advice for a newb? I'll take any and all! Also any advice for us arthritic folk would be great!

~Tes

[Laney]

Haha! You walk to and from work every day, that's an awesome idea! We're here to keep you accountable!

[Metal Tes]

LOL, it's working so far! Thanks!

[Laney]

LOL, it's working so far! Thanks!

It's seriously genius haha. Are you going to try the next 6 week challenge?

[Caitriona]

Welcome to the forum! You sound so motivated, I bet you're gonna rock this! I was gonna ask about the 6 week challenge, too. This next one is gonna be my first. I need to improve accountability as well, and the challenges seem to be really great for choosing attainable goals and sticking with them.

[Metal Tes]

Thanks to both of you for making me feel immediately welcome, and yes! I am going for the 6 week challenge, I think it's exactly what I need! I'm working on which goals to choose right now...at first I was trying to figure out a reasonable amount of weight to lose in 6 weeks, but I think it may be better to base my goals on things I should be doing instead, such as my exercises, eating an actual breakfast every day, things I have absolute control over. Does that make sense?

[D_chelyst]

...at first I was trying to figure out a reasonable amount of weight to lose in 6 weeks, but I think it may be better to base my goals on things I should be doing instead, such as my exercises, eating an actual breakfast every day, things I have absolute control over. Does that make sense?

That absolutely makes sense, and while I haven't done a challenge yet, I believe I've read that you can make some of your challenge goals related to what you said above. Good luck!

[Metal Tes]

Thanks! I did wind up basing my goals on what I should be doing, and how often, and I think it will work out better that way...if I don't complete all my goals, I have absolutely nobody to blame but myself, no excuses!