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Introduction Text Well both of my hips have been replaced now but I still cannot ride my bike or walk very far. I took a cl;ass on food last quarter aptly named "The Gluttonous Human" One of the documentary's she presented was "Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead" OMG it called my name loud and clear. I highly recommend everyone to watch it. I started Joes juice quest yesterday. Today is day two and I feel great no hunger so far. School has been a long road for me but the end is in site.. I graduate at the end of the summer quarter and am dying to get back to work. Hopefully I can get this weight off so I can become more mobile. I miss my daily walks more than I can say. I have arthritis set into my hip and I am pretty crippled up.. I can walk very short distances only. Swimming is my only exercise that doesn't leave me in unbearable pain... I need hip replacement surgery but have no insurance. I graduate in June and want to be able to get a job. My client died in Oct.. I had been with him for 5 years and it was a terrible loss.. so throw in a bit of depression and I am just a mess! I am going to start tracking my food again. Look through the groups and pick out a couple. I don't have a whole lot of computer time because all of my class's for this quarter are online but I am going to dedicate a certain portion of my day to Sparkpeople again. The support here the best you will ever find and I cannot do this alone. I will try to get a updated picture in the next week or 2 and I need to get an official weight. 7/07 I am 54yo and the director of a Mental Health Clubhouse, Update- The clubhouse lost it's funding and is no longer in operation.. we are working with the mental health board now trying to find another source of funding.... NAMI is taking a big part in this process. I am now working in home health with a patient who has brain damage and is on a vent 24/7.. I love this job. I am also the Vice Chair of NAMI Washington Coast (National Alliance on Mental Illness). I lead a pretty busy life. I am a sport kite flyer in my spare time. We live in Ocean Shores, Wa and the beach is my sanctuary. We have 3 spoiled rotten cats that own us. I have struggled with my weight for years now and just don't seem to be able to find the will power to stay on a diet. I don't eat sweets or fast food but what I have eaten all my life is rich fattening foods. (UPDATE: I found the problem.. diets don't work, this has to be a change of lifestyle, for the rest of my life) I have been reading articles in our local paper written by an amazing woman who works for the health Dept. she constantly mentions the benefits of walking. I started walking 10 minutes a day and it was all I could do to get that far.. I was so out of breathe and hurt so bad. But I kept trying.. Now I walk 3 miles a day and LOVE it! It feels so good to get out in the fresh air.. I walk in the rain too. My body feels cheated now if I don't walk. One of the things i missed most was hiking.. I can now hike 7+ miles and feel great doing it. A year ago if someone would have told me I could do this I would have told them they were crazy.. so have faith in your ability to change your lifestyle, it's not as hard as it seems. **************************************** 1/20/2008 I have been with Sparkpeople for 6 months now. I have lost 52lbs and I have learned so much. I will be forever grateful to the people who put this site together and go the extra mile to make it a safe place for us to come, share, learn and most of all, help to get healthy. They have provided us with all the tools we need to live a better life. For those of you who are just starting out. I would say.. 1. Learn to use the nutrition log. Make it your best friend and use it faithfully each and everyday. I thought it was going to be to hard to figure out, being that I am kinda old and not too computer savvy but it was easy after the first week. Make sure that when you add anything by hand, you click the little box that says "save to favorites" 2. Find a buddy or 2, 3, or more. I found Lynn2008, Rosielove and Lou all within the first couple of weeks. I now have a support network that you could not buy with any amount of money. I can talk to them about anything and they will give me the feedback.. whether good or bad. They help me thru the bad times and cheer me thru the good. Lynn2008 is one of the most inspirational people I have come across here. 3. Exercise.. oh how I hated this one. I have never liked to get sweaty, hot or do any kind of exercise. At 330lbs I was sure i couldn't do anything anyway. I was so wrong. I started at home with strength training. I used the videos I found here at Spark. I was so out of shape and my body was so weak, but I could feel the difference within the first 2 weeks. I started out walking 10 minutes a day and could barely make that. I am now a member of our local community club and love the gym. I would give anything to have a treadmill at home. 4. Cut out all the sugar and refined foods.. they are all junk. When I started I didn't think I liked fruit.. I have no idea why i thought that but it did. I now eat it everyday and love it. I can't imagine going a day without it. 5. Cut back your red meat. This was a huge problem for me. I grew up on it 6- 7 days a week. I now eat it once every couple of weeks. I really don't miss it anymore. When I do have it I have exactly what I want.. I nice big juicy rib eye steak. I don't deny myself what I love because this is not a diet, it is a lifestyle.. *update 10/10/08, i rarely eat beef or pork now.. i haven't had any now since august and I am not missing it.* 6. Veggis, I really can't say enough about getting enough vegetables into your diet each day. I love them roasted with olive oil in the oven.. put them over some good wild rice and I am now in heaven. 7. Water.. make it your best friend. I cut out all the soda.. I quit drinking coffee and switched to green tea, this took a bit to get used to but I feel the difference and will never go back to drinking coffee ever again. I could just kick myself for all the money I threw away in those latte shops. I also use a lot of loose leaf tea.. we have a shop here in town and i really love Puerh and green oolong- Ali Shan 8. Limit your salt and be sure to track what you take in daily. I try to stay under 2300mgs. Salt is sneaky and is in almost everything and the numbers creep up so quickly. 9. FIBER and yes I capitalized it on purpose because this is such a important little word. I try to get a minimum of 35 grams per day. Fiber I have found is the magic that helps me stay regular and it also just happens to help you lose weight. Imagine that. I supplement my fiber intake with ground FLAXSEED everyday.. I also ise a natural marine fiber called Chitosan before my main meal. Do yourself a favor and read Spark information on fiber.. you will be wondering how you ever got by without it in the past. 10. Spend some time joining different teams until you find the one thats right for you. Join in the challenges. I can't say enough about the challenges, they keep me on track and wanting to work harder towards my goals. Thanks to all of you who have the confidence in me to be your team leader too. If you don't see a team that really inspires you start your own... 11. Goals... Keep them small. It took you a good bit of time to put the weight on and it is going to take time to take it off. Start with 5lb goals so you don't get discouraged. make them easy to achieve and you will get more and more excited about reaching them. I keep my weight tracker set to my current goal, being able to change it and move the number each month gives me more incentive. 12. Do yourself a favor and read the book "The Eat Clean Diet" by Tosca Reno. Eating the right foods in the right combinations really does work. Get in the 5-6 small meals instead of the traditional 3 and you will find the weight loss much easier. 13. Bookmark this website.. or better yet sign up for his daily newsletter, he sends out a daily recipe and information on one healthy food each day. Worlds Healthiest Foods.. the book is wonderful. www.whfoods.org 7/22/08 *My 1yr anniversary with Sparkpeople and I have lost 90lbs* Now on to the next 50lbs SHORT TERM GOALS AS OF 8/17/08 8/22 - 230LBS * 100LBS LOST* goal met 229lb 8/29 - 228lb *plateau* Goal met 9/95 227lb 10/2- 226lb Goal Met 10/9- 225lb Goal Met 222lb 10/16-223lb Goal met 10/23-221lb NOT MET 10/30-219lb NOT MET ************ 11/6- 222lbs current weight 11/13-220lb goal met 11/16 11/20-218lb goal not met 11/27-216 goal met 12/4 ************ 12/11-215 12/18-213 12/25-212 1/01- 210

Making my goals smaller.. and more easily attained. Logging my daily foods Journaling in my blog weekly. Incorporating regular exercise into my program. (GOAL MET 10/15, joined a fitness center) Responding to a minimum of 3 blogs a week to help encourage others here at Spark who are struggling. To be under 300lb by Oct 1st. (10/1/07 i am 2 lbs from this goal) GOAL MET 10/10 298lbs 10/31/07- 294lb (8lb) GOAL MET Yeah!!! 11/30/07- 286lb (8lb) 1 lb away from goal (GOAL MET 12/5 YEAH!!! 12/25/07-282lb (5lb) GOAL MET 12/19 YEAH!!! 1/4/08- 275lb (7lb) Struggling with this.. 3lbs to go 1/27 GOAL REACHED 2/11/08 3/1/08- 268 Goal reached 4/6/08- 260 Goal Reached 5/6/08- 250 Goal Met 5/14 6/14- 240 Goal met 6/16 7/14- 232 Goal met 8/19 My main goal to learn a new way of eating and cooking that will be healthier for

As of 7/25/07 I am steaming or roasting most all my vegetables unless I eat them raw. Keeping my sodium under 2300mgs daily Steaming or grilling my fish. Keeping a daily food log. I use protein powder and have a fruit smoothie for lunch everyday during the summer. Limiting my pork & beef to once every other week. Eating a minimum of 2 servings daily of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables Increasing my daily fiber intake with Chitosan and ground flax seed Drinking a minimum of 16 glasses of water a day.

Ocean Shores, WA. pointyendup@gmail.com I am 52 and have 2 grown boys and 4 grandchildren. I am a advocate for people with disabilities.

I was raised very rural and went to a tribal school. We didn't have power until 1979 but we had a wonderful life. My parents were married for 51 years until my father died last year of a brain tumor. This made me realize that life can be short. I need to lose weight for my health.

Add a Link I have started back here in Feb 2012 after putting some weight back on. I lost 114lbs here previously and I now know I need this community and the food tracker to keep me in check. Every Step Counts
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