I am your typical crazy 45 year old "Calgon Take Me Away, Super Woman", I'm a wife, mother to a teenaged daughter and son, and a full time worker. My household includes my family, father-in-law who has lots of heath issues, 4 dogs, a cat and at the boarding barn, Hot Rock "Rocky" our 6 year old Appy gelding and Natalie my daughters QH Mare. Combine that with any "me time" to exercise and I have a very full day, week, month, year.

So how did I get here? I developed a fear of ...

I am your typical crazy 45 year old "Calgon Take Me Away, Super Woman", I'm a wife, mother to a teenaged daughter and son, and a full time worker. My household includes my family, father-in-law who has lots of heath issues, 4 dogs, a cat and at the boarding barn, Hot Rock "Rocky" our 6 year old Appy gelding and Natalie my daughters QH Mare. Combine that with any "me time" to exercise and I have a very full day, week, month, year.

So how did I get here? I developed a fear of sitting in those white plastic chairs after watching a video of a man, not much heavier then I was at the time, sitting in one and seeing it collapse and knowing that could be me. That was the starting motivation or fear. But I did nothing about it until early in March 2006 when my hubby announced he was going to join a gym with a friend. I saw it as my opportunity to join too and start working toward getting healthier, losing weight and improving my life.

My Sparks experience started a few months later when I hit my first bump in my journey and Cheyjoecat(Tawanda) introduced me to this site (something I will be forever grateful for).

For me, balance seems to be the key - when I eat, drink, sleep, exercise and share in the inspiration (teams) here on this site and with family/friends, my life is in balance and the weight comes off. I get off balance or let too much stress into my life and on it comes again.

My goal is to lose 108 pounds putting me at 150 pounds, a weight I haven't been since Junior High School. It would put me just at the edge of a healthy weight. When I reach it, and I will, I'll re-evaluate.

Phase I, My Beginning: 258.8 pounds (DH says I was in 260's but this is my first recorded weight after working out a few weeks)
20% - 236.4 pounds (Met 8/26/06)
25% - 231 pounds (Met 9/4/06)
40% - 214.8 pounds (2/10/07)
50% - 204 pounds (Met 10/29/07)
Lowest weight achieved in this stage of journey- 200 pounds!

Phase II - Big BUMP and Yo-yoing back and forth for two years. At the end of 2008 Mr. Scale read 219.5 and on 12/31/09 it read 222.0 pounds! Well this journey is a learning experience. So what did I learn over the last two years? In September 2008, I thought the change was mainly a result of unbalance, unhappiness, stress, and a sense of loss (even if it is something as simple as your home or objects you attach memoris to that are stored away from you). All these play a very key role in having balance in my life. Another review at the end of December 2008 and I realized that I had lost ME - yep that small part that allowed me the selfishness to work toward being healthier. It was buried under all the "can you..." from work and family. I was right back to were I was years ago, putting myself last and believing I didn't have a right to any time to work on myself- yep no walking at lunch - so much to do had to work through lunch, home to cook, clean, shop, make sure homework done, then crash in bed to repeat the next day - sound familiar?!?!?! I went into 2009 with this knowledge, but still saw a year of ups and downs with my weight and less and less exercise.

At the end of December 2009 I took serious look at my life. What did I do differently at the beginning of this journey that I'm not doing now? Planning, scheduling on a monthly calendar, allowing myself to be a bit selfish, challenges, competitions. But mainly organizing and planning my exercises and tracking calories, exercise minutes and water on a calendar! Goals are great, but without planning, tracking and self challenges/compeitions the goals meant nothing as I wasn't working toward meeting them!

So now the picture is a little clearer. For me to stay on this journey I need balance, goals, a little selfishness, competition, challenges, planning and tracking. It is with this new and existing knowledge that I go into 2010 and continue my journey.

Phase III: Moving forward in 2010! Check out my goals in my blog!


"Always have a positive attitude in life. There is something positive in every person. Even a stopped watch is right twice a day........"

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