I’m kind of in the doldrums. So many places are still closed to travelers. The ones that are open have so many requirements for safety that it kind of takes the fun out of going.
Truth be known we can’t really afford to go anywhere anyway. So tired of these four walls.
I’ve decided to distract myself by concentrating on self improvement. No, not mentally or spiritually, I gave up on that long ago. I’m talking physically. Yep. Diet and exercise, something I’ve been sorely lax about most of my life.
About a year and a half ago I was my absolute heaviest I had ever been close to 240 pounds. It had crept up on me so stealthily that I had hardly noticed. Sure it would sometimes become glaringly obvious when captured by a random photo that would temporarily shock me into complete disbelief and disgust that I had allowed my weight to get so out of control but for the most part I made excuses and played the victim to my disability.
No doubt being paralyzed from the chest down contributed to my lower metabolism. I had started using a power wheelchair about 22 years ago to assist me in being more independent and not having to rely on others as much. While it was a Godsend in that respect, it was a disaster for me physically. My body required so little nourishment to exist that even eating a small amount caused me to gain weight. Eventually I just gave up and over the next 20 years I gained over 100 pounds.
Last year I kept reading about everyone having incredible success losing weight with the Keto diet. So I thought well shoot, what do I have to lose? 100 pounds would be nice! So I started in January of 2019 and had some success. I ended up losing about 50 pounds that first year. Then from January until June of this year, I completely stalled out. I actually gained 7 pounds while still dieting and eating low carb/ keto. That really broke my heart.
Because I’m paralyzed I can’t step on a scale at home to monitor my progress. This meant that I had to rely on my 6 months Dr.’s appointments to be weighed by specialized scales that you could back your wheelchair up on to and then subtract the weight of the wheelchair to come up with my body weight. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed with my progress.
So when I got home, I decided right then and there that I’ve got to find a way to get some physical activity back into my life. I dug out my old pushchair and comitted myself to sitting in it and pushing myself as far as I could go every morning. Believe me, it was a struggle. It absolutely wore me out every day. The first day all I could do was get to the end of the driveway and back. I progressed from there to the first street corner and back. The next week I was pushing myself to go 1/4 mile, and by the second week it was 1/2 mile.
It has been 3 weeks since I started my exercise program. I have built up to pushing up to a mile. It is exhausting, especially in the Texas heat and humidity. I have to get up and out on the road no later than 7:30 or 8:00 at the latest. It takes me about one hour to complete. My body aches in places that I haven’t felt in years but its got to be good for me, right? Surely this will jumpstart my weight loss again. I know it has given me a mental boost. I feel more in control. I’ve started counting my calories too. I’m limiting them to 1000 calories or less and still trying to stay below 30 net carbs.
My husband found an old scale in the garage that could be used for weighing large objects by hanging them from it. He managed to run a chain from the garage rafters with a pulley system and hooked it up to a hoyer sling. He was then able to lift me up out of my wheelchair like a side of beef and get a base weight for me. I plan on getting him to weigh me once a month to see if the exercise is helping. It is a little stupid looking to the average onlooker but who cares? It gets the job done!
I hope to be up to a mile and a half by July 1st. Thats a lot of progress for someone who couldn’t get to the end of the drive and back 3 weeks ago. The summer heat is really giving me fits. I’ve decided that I need to give myself a day of recovery between each day of exercise. So far it has really helped with the achy muscles.
Well that’s pretty much what I’ve been up to this last month. Ya’ll pray for me that I can keep my exercise and diet program going and achieve my goals for this year and next year as well. I’ll be 59 years old in October and that means 60 is just around the corner. I’d love to reach my goal weight and stabilize by the time I hit 60.
I’ll try to keep you updated on my progress.
Good for you! It is a lot harder to lose weight at our age for sure!
Thank you!