Hello from Northern Ontario.
 

Good evening everyone. A little info on me I am 47 years old and have always been overweight, my brother and sister also are overweight. Not sure why we were cursed with this problem since our parents were not overweight. Three years ago my sister started to work out and really has done amazing well. She bugged and bugged me to start to take better care of myself but you know how it is, you really have to want to do it.

Life sometimes gives you a huge "reality" slap and you have to deal with things you never thought you would ever have to. Fourteen months ago my husband had a "widow" maker heart attack in his sleep and passed away. Let me tell you it hasn't been easy. Grieving and realizing that you also aren't in the best of health is a scary thought and the thought of being the only living parent hold a huge responsibility.

After my husband's passing I would say maybe I was 240 lbs (hard to say never weighed myself). I did a slight change to our diet and did very moderate exercise at the gym. I somehow managed to take off 20 lbs doing this but it took a over year to do it. Six weeks ago I changed to a women's gym and hired a personal trainer. I am on 1600 calories a day and work out three times a day, do yoga and have taken up jogging. Weight at first was slowly coming off maybe a pound a week, which is discouraging since I was working out so much. My trainer kept encouraging me to keep at it. Proud to say that in the last two weeks I have lost 8 lbs.

I hope everyone keeps their goals in mind. We have to take care of ourselves so we can be there for the people we love.

Hi Needy, I cant begin to imagine how hard that must have been. You are very strong to deal with and take care of yourself. Congrats on the weight loss! Keep it up, I have learned patience and consistency are key. It took me about 3 months to see progress the first time I started working out.

I have a question, when you say 3 times a day what exactly do you do, and how do you find the time??? I dont have any kids and I can just fit in an hour of weight lifting and 30 minutes jogging.

Hi and welcome! I am so sorry for your loss. I have been thinking lately about how much I would miss my husband if he were to die early, and it really cements the fact that we need to take better care of ourselves. It is great to see that you have stepped up your activity and changed your diet. I am in school for a career that will be dealing with the biggest health problem facing developed countries: heart disease. It is hard to get it through to people how important it is to take care of yourself, because heart disease might not give you a warning.
Anyway, now I am rambling. Just wanted to say good luck and congratulations on your success so far-keep up the good work!

Maleficentpie I have learned so much during the last 14 months and how I wish I learned it earlier. I never thought I had a pretty good life. Have a career I love, and took care of my family but somewhere I lost taking care of myself. It has been a struggle, I remember therapist saying do something you have passion for. Passion?? What the heck is that? Slowly I realized I do have interests in things but most of them require me to be more physically fit. Now to answer you question. I do work out at least three times a day and sometimes I mix it up. Generally I am at the gym at 6 in the morning and do the weights and stuff with the trainer, generally I am there for 40 minutes. Then I am off to work. I am fortunate that I work at a college and they have work out classes at lunch time. It could be circuit training, zumba or light cardio. Then at home I do my treadmill, generally can only handle 20 minutes of that (still need to work on my cardio). I just started yoga last week. On the weekends because I don't have the lunch time workouts I do the treadmill at 20 minute intervals. I find now that I can get more done in a day. Maybe it is because exercise helps with the mental fog or I am just more fit or a combo of the two.
Brandis thank you for choosing your career path. My husband had no warning at all. He just had a EKG, bloodwork etc three months before his passing and everything was normal. Too bad they didn't do a stress test, that would most likely found his problem.

Hi Needy. Very sorry for you loss. It sounds like you have better control of your life and are doing awesome.

Where in Northern Ontario are you?

Sorry about your husband, I hope you find all the support and encouragement you need here at 3FC...Good Luck to You!;)