Chris's Journey #48: Everyone Needs a Helping Hand

I had a friend of mine message me the other day about being an accountability partner with them and if I could share some tips with them on what was working for me losing weight. I was honored to be asked and wrote them back with some things that helped me out. After reading over the message again, I thought that some of the ideas may help out some of you reading this blog. Here is what I wrote them:

• Start immediately! Tomorrow never comes. I use to tell myself "I will start on Monday" well Monday never came. I never started then. What happened with me is one day I just started to walk. That looks like it might be the same for you.

• You have a significant other. Talk with them about helping you out. Go on walks together. Tell them not to take no for an answer...to drag you out there. And do not start big...that is where most people fail. They try to start exercising by walking 5 miles. That is just asking for failure. Start with around the block or a half mile. If you feel like going more, go for it...but start small and build up. (If you do not have a significant other, then ask someone to partner with you. Working out with a buddy is much more fun than by yourself)

• You said you are exhausted after work. What about before work? There are times I get up even 15 minutes early and just walk for those 15 minutes before starting the day. 15 minutes is better than nothing and is better than sitting on the couch or lying in bed.

• Find things that are fun for you to do and do them. If it is swimming or bike riding...or even shopping…just do it. I walk around the mall all the time when it is too hot or if it is raining. If you want to meet on a Saturday at one of the malls and do laps...let me know. They are a huge help.

• Finally, if you miss a day DON’T BE HARD ON YOURSELF! It is OK to miss a day. But set yourself up for success. Put your walking shoes or gym bag by the door ready to go. Put a sign on the fridge that asks you: Are you hungry? How hungry are you? What are you hungry for? Little things that you do to change behavior will lead to big things that change behavior.

• You can do this. You are stronger than you give yourself credit for. You are just in a rut right now. Everyone gets in them. Just ask people to help you get out of the rut.

Let me stress a few points here. First, on the do not start big, please know how true this is. It is asking your body to go zero to sixty without anytime to prep. Make a commitment that is realistic. Start with once or twice a week with a realistic amount. Think about it this way, even if you do once a week, that is still once a week more than where you were. And start with a realistic exercise. Commit to that realistic one and if you can do more, then great! We set ourselves up for failure so much just by aiming too big and then giving up because it is too much.
Do not be hard on yourself is the number one advise I need to give everyone. No one tears us down like we tear ourselves down. If you miss that one day you do not exercise, it does you no good to beat yourself up. You have to just figure out a new way to get yourself going. Try different ways to get yourself to the gym or to walk or to where ever you want to exercise or move. I pack my gym bag and place it by the front door every night that will be exercising the next day. I put up signs around my house to encourage me to get out there and move. Try several things that might help you out. Once you find the one thing that helps out, then do it and stick with it.

Being too tired after work makes perfect sense. We all work hard whether it is in an office building or being the CEO of a family keeping everything running smoothly. When you get married and/or have kids (I can only imagine) it gets harder and harder. But you need to take that 15 minutes (or more) for yourself. It is vital for you to figure out a way to take care of yourself, especially if you have a family. Work with your family on you finding a time for you and stick with it. You are very important and you should treat yourself as important.

These are just a few of my thoughts. There are thousands more. Find what works best for you and try stuff out. There is no right way or wrong way. There is the way that works for you. Just start moving and your body will thank you!

Sincerely, Chris

The Theindia's Journey #3: A well balanced plate.

A well balanced plate

We have all heard the expression, 'are you happy?' And this expression comes with 2 simple answers...if the answer is yes, keep doing what you are doing! But if the answer is no, revaluate what you are doing and make a change. This is where I was a few weeks ago.

See, you never realize how much is on your plate until you go thru a full day of all of your duties. As you all know, I am a mother of 2 grade school children, a full time employee, and a 3/4 college student (meaning I take 3 classes, so not quite a full time student but close enough). Well, to add to my already full plate I have added baseball mom for both boys! Yes, baseball season has started yet again. But I am trying not to stress. Well, I just told a small lie, a few weeks ago I did stress! How in the world am I going to go to work, go to class, take the kids to baseball, study, and workout?!?! There are only 24 hours in a day and per the mind law, you have to sleep at least 8 of those (lol). Yes, this sounds like a lot and it is. Which brings me to my question...are you happy? Well, at that point the answer was NO. It was a little more verbal than no, but I would rather not repeat those words. So what did I do? I sat down and reevaluated what wasn't making me happy. And the answer was I was stressed. My first priority was to not revert back to the old Theindia. In my mind I had already set out to see what can I remove from this list and you know what the first choice that came to my mind...that's right, my health/fitness goals. The old bad part of me had already written off my fitness goals as a loss. But my new frame of mind said no not this time. It is weird it was like my mind had already told my body and I began to feels self get lazy. Oh no, not this time I said to myself. So I wrote a list and started to prioritize my days. I wrote down the top items that needed to be done on specific days and then I wrote down what could be rearranged to fit. And what do you know...I have this plate of mine balanced.

What does this have to do with my fitness goals you may ask...the answer is a lot. See the old me would have cancelled my gym membership, hung up my running shoes, and pulled out the ice cream. But not the new me. I did have to cut back at the gym, but I did not give it up. I now walk/run while my boys are at baseball practice, as well as on the weekends if I can't hit the gym I take the boys and we practice baseball or go for a walk. I have kept up with my health eating and stayed a long long way from junk food. I refuse to go back to old habits. I made that commitment to myself this year and I am sticking to that goal.

I'm not able to report double digit weight loss numbers, but I will take my 4 pound loss as a gain. Slow and steady is the way to win the race. So I ask myself today, "am I happy?", and guess what, that answer is YES!!

Chris's Journey #47: The Journey Continues

Issue #47: The Journey Continues…

I walked my 91st walk last Friday, walking 3.5 miles in a little over an hour. Almost a year in this journey to get healthy and blogging about it and I am finally starting to enjoy this walking thing. If I have not walked in a while, I can feel it. Not walking makes me feel sluggish and like something is missing in my life. Walking has become cathartic to me. It allows me to have time to myself to think things out or to just breathe or spend time in prayer and reflection. For the 20 minutes to an hour that I am out it is all about me, and that is nice to have.

Here is the breakdown of 91 walks from October 17, 2013 to September 19, 2014 (11 months):

·         172.3 miles walked
·         64 Hours 55 Minutes walked
·         Over 45,000 calories burned
·         Over 113 pounds lost

So 9 more walks until my 100th walk.

I have less than 30 miles till 200 miles.

One month to go before I hit a year of walking and beginning this journey.

47 blog posts written with 45 of them being on time.

I have a met an amazing woman whom I call my girlfriend now. I finally had the confidence to ask a woman out and she said yes. We celebrated 3 months of dating last week. This is my longest relationship ever. Because I have learned to like and love myself, I am now able to love someone else. Yes, you heard me right. I love her, she loves me. The areas of my life are this good because I started this journey 11 months ago.  Who would have thought that a walk with its sole goal of getting tired for a sleep study would become an inferno in my life changing everything? I would not have thought it for one minute. But it has happened and continues to happen every day I am on this journey.

For those of you who are frustrated with the way your journey is going, the only thing I can tell you is that it starts with one step forward. Even if there is a time that you go five steps back, you have to keep walking forward. Thomas Edison said, “Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” This is so true. All of us are all so close to success, but because of our frustrations we lose sight and stop. Are you up to taking one step forward? The minute you step forward once, you are on the road to getting to where you want to be. You may step back a bit, but as long as you keep focused on the journey in front of you and not behind you, you will succeed. Success will not be over night, but it will be there ready for you to take it.

I have plenty of people and dear friends say that I inspire them. I am grateful for such wonderful words. Inspire yourself to just take a step forward. For me the journey continues and will continue for the rest of my life. What about your journey? Has it started or do you need to start it? Inspires yourselves! You never know where just one step will take you.

Sincerely, Chris

Chris's Journey #46: Under Construction

At the beginning of the year, I got in my car to drive to work. It was a normal week day morning. As I made a right turn, I noticed that the steering wheel was a little harder to turn than usual. Then I made a left and felt the same thing. I pulled over at a gas station and struggled to look under the car at why it was hard to turn. I did not see anything. I shrugged it off and got back in the car. I started the car again and began to drive. I got to a turn and once again it was a struggle to turn. I happened to look down at the steering wheel this time and saw that the steering wheel was dragging on my stomach. I was wearing a jacket because it was cool outside and saw that it was me that was making it harder to steer. My stomach was now getting in the way of me driving. To say this was depressing was an understatement. But it was my old normal.

My body is going through some serious changes right now. I am exercising harder than I ever have. I am eating less food than I ever have. My back is giving me a lot of issues. My body is adjusting to the fact that I have less fat on it, and my back is recalculating the weight that it supports. My skin burns in certain places around my body (especially around the stomach). This is from my skin not expanding as much as it was. Losing the weight is a great thing, but losing it at the pace that I am does have side effects. My back and skin are just some of them.

Let’s talk about some of the good side effects. I am now in 4X shirts and they are even getting loose on me. It is easier for me to shop for clothes now. Clothes shopping can actually be fun. That thought scares me, but it is becoming true. I can walk faster and hurt less. As you read in last week’s blog I walked my fastest mile and 5K in the same day. Plus I had plenty of energy to go to my uncle’s house for a little Labor Day fun. It is easier for me to get out of bed. I LOVE this. I do not hurt when I get up in the morning. I do not hurt or get out of breath when I put clothes on. When I sit, I can put my foot on my leg now! That is so awesome. I literally yipped out loud when my foot stayed on my leg. I almost have a lap now. I cannot wait for the day my Godson or nephews or even my girlfriend can sit in my lap. That will be a good day.

But wait there is more! I can sit comfortably in the pew at church now. I use to have to prop my stomach on the top of the pew in front of me or sit in the front row (it does not have another pew in front) so that I would not hurt. Now I can sing, move, and praise in my pew. That is a great feeling. I can even walk in a crowd and feel like everyone is not trying to get around me. I am smaller and I can move with traffic. I am even able to clean house without any pain at all. I can just clean and clean and not get out of breath. I am still working to be on my knees, but that will take time.

Finally, my stomach no longer touches the steering wheel. Look at the picture above. I have plenty of room there now. I remember the first time I saw that it did not touch. It was about a month after the surgery and I could get a finger in between the steering wheel and my body. I was so excited I was shaking. I quickly took a picture of it and send it to my friends. And now 4 months later, I can put 4 fingers in between me and my steering wheel. It was seeing that my stomach did not touch that showed me that I was doing this. I am losing the weight. I am taking it seriously. I will be keeping it off.

In the four months since the surgery, I have lost 22 inches total around my body. I am in the best shape I have been in 10 or more years. I am active, I am comfortable and I am learning to like me more. It is going to take some time to learn how to love me to the fullest, but I am getting there. But for right now, my stomach does not touch the steering wheel, and that is an amazing thing.

Sincerely, Chris

Chris's Journey #45: No compromises

On Labor Day I got up really early on a day off and made the trek to Baymeadows Blvd to participate in the Run Jax Labor Day 5K. This would be my first 5K (official) since my surgery. I was super excited to participate in the run. I had been feeling healthy and stronger and I was eager to see how I would do on this early morning. Here are some of the thoughts that I had on what would be my 7th official 5K.

• Before the race began, I met a nice man by the name of Joe. He was super friendly and introduced himself to me as we sat and waited for the race to begin. He was an older gentleman, but had great strength in his voice. He said that he was proud of me for being my size and being out there. I thanked him and kept sitting there. He then told me he was 90 years old. 90 years old? Are you kidding me? I was instantly humbled. He was excited to walk and happy to just enjoying his life. It was a real pleasure to meet him.

• The one problem with being the last person to finish the race was the police car that ends up following you while you walk. To ensure that no one hits any of the runners / walkers there are a lot of police officers available to make sure that no cars get through. When you are the last walker out there, the last police car follows slowly RIGHT behind you. I hated that car following me around, even though I understand the need for it being there. I cannot wait until I walk so fast that I am not the last person on the race track.

• This may seem trivial (warfare) but I love races that give out medals to all that finish. Sadly, not all races or 5Ks do. I got spoiled with my first 5K giving out a medal. Sadly it was not until this latest race that I got my second medal. It is proudly hanging up next to my first medal. I love having something that shows I accomplished something I never would have done a year ago.

• I still love getting my number and pinning it to my shirt. That race numbers means more to me than anything else. This past year I became an athlete. Those numbers that hang on my wall prove it. I cherish each of them.

• I did this last 5K faster than anyone that I did before. I pushed myself and finished the race with less than an 18 minute mile average! I felt amazing looking at the stats. It is one of the few times that I was proud of myself. After the race was over, my feet and knees were killing me. I pushed myself so hard that my body ached. I do not care. I did the 5K in less than an hour. When I was almost done with my first mile of the 5K on Monday, my feet hurt and I had a crisis of faith and really wanted to stop. Then the phrase “No Compromise” came in to my head. As soon as I accepted that slogan, there was no way I was quitting. Just like this weight plan I am on, there are no compromises. Just live life to the fullest and do the most I can do with the time that I have. No Compromise!

If you are able to complete a 5K, think about running a race. I cannot tell you what it has done to my self-esteem. I feel better and stronger for the number of miles I have walked. The support you get from complete strangers is amazing. It is something I will always be grateful for. I am excited for my next 5K and excited that this will be a regular event for me in the years to come.

Sincerely, Chris