Weight Loss Journey #1

My name is Steve and I am overweight. Seriously overweight. And I really want to do something about that. I am now highly motivated to take advantage of the opportunity to change my lifestyle. First, a little bit of history. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in 2001. I began taking medication and eventually started giving myself insulin shots. I had worked up to seven shots a day by January 2010 when I was able to get approved for an insulin pump. I was still gaining weight and in May of 2012 I was at 243 pounds. I am 5’6” tall and that weight was just too much. When diagnosed, I attended classes on dealing with Type 2 Diabetes and initially lost some weight but watching what I ate was hard because I used food as a comfort in reaction to stressful work days. Although I left the stressful job in early 2010, I never gave up the comfort food, in part because just not having a job was stressful in itself. I watched The Biggest Loser a number of years and always wished I had access to professional exercise and nutrition help as did the show participants. In March of this year, I decided I would follow a program to bike across America on my stationary recumbent bike at home. I put a map on the wall and put in the miles on the bike. Unfortunately, lack of accountability added to low motivation and I soon abandoned that activity. One evening in May, while watching TV, I saw an ad for Club24. The ad showed people doing the same things that The Biggest Loser participants were doing. I began to wonder if I could do that. Having watched some of the participants on The Biggest Loser laying on the floor almost sick from the workout, my first thought was it would be embarrassing to not be able to do the exercises. I finally decided to check out the program and see if this could work for me. I purchased a one month trial membership and when the person at the desk told me that I could start that day, I was surprised but figured I had to start at some point. The program I started was the Foundations class. This class has seven exercise “stations.” You have seven minutes to complete all of the stations. Each station is 30 seconds for the exercise and you get 30 seconds of rest. Then you start the next one and when you have completed all seven you get one minute rest and then start all over again. You do this rotation for three sessions. What a beginning for me. I am committed to a 13-week program of regular exercise and some changes in eating. Part of that commitment is the accountability of blogging about my progress. My goal is not only to get healthy but to inspire others to do the same. If I can do this….so can you!