Making Changes

We seem to be making changes a lot lately. My theory is that we are now feeling the positive effects from our efforts, so we want to see what more we can do to continue to make things better.

Two days ago we didn't feel like walking for a mile and quarter, but thought that we should still get out and walk. We decided to try walking faster and walk a half mile at the faster pace. It was sort of like an experiment. If we found out that we weren't ready to walk at a faster speed, we would start going back to the mile and a quarter. Happily, we discovered that we can do a half mile at almost double our original speed, as long as we stop at each corner to take a breath and drink some water!

We have also noticed a lot more change in our lower body, with little in our upper body. We felt like we were ready to start making changes there, too. As such, our new exercise routine is now the mile and a quarter every other day with the fast 1/2 mile in between. In addition, every night before going to bed we are doing upper body and arm exercises. We go to bed at night sore and tired, but in a strangely good way.

Today we took our measurements again. In one week, I have lost an average of an inch, and Lee has lost an average of 2!!!!!

Here are our pictures from last week's walk:

May 22, 2015

We owe everything to the Lord

Today we had a very spiritual experience on our walk. It was such a beautiful thing that we want to share with everyone our testimony, and how the Lord, Jesus Christ, helped us get to where we are right now.

Lee and I are both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons. I was raised in the Church, and like so many others, had to develop my testimony of the different aspects of our faith. I admit that, although I always believed in the Church, I struggled with some of my belief. Most of it was directed inward. I didn't believe that I was worthy of all of the Lord's blessings. I believed that I wasn't being blessed because I wasn't good enough. I also have a practical mind, and when it came to some of the practices, like paying tithing, I couldn't see how paying 1/10 of my earnings would be a good thing if that meant paying $20 that I could use to pay a bill or buy food.

Lee didn't grow up in the Church. He was baptized as a child, and his family did attend church occasionally (more when he got older), but it wasn't as big a part of his life. When we met, he was still starting to learn more and develop a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel. However, with his past and problems with mental and emotional struggles, accepting everything about the Gospel has been a struggle for him.

We would like to pause for a moment and thank my parents for their help in our Spiritual development. We had to live with them for a number of years near the beginning of our marriage because of financial difficulties. Although it still took a few years after moving back out on our own, their guidance and example started us, & Lee especially, on the path to Spiritual Enlightenment.

A few years ago, Lee had a very significant moment with our Bishop. I won't go into the details, but it started us reading the scriptures and praying together. From there, with help from the Bishop and the wonderful members of our Ward, we started to gain stronger testimonies and started to return to Activity in the Church. We are proud to say that we are now going to church regularly, we pay a full tithe, we read scriptures and pray daily, and are getting very close to being worthy to return to the Temple!

What does this have to do with today? Well, although we've noticed and acknowledged His help in everything we are doing, today we truly felt like the Lord was walking beside us, encouraging us, supporting us, and leading us forward. We know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we wouldn't be where we are today without His help. Without His help, we wouldn't have gained the confidence, the strength, or even the ability to be here, getting healthy mentally, physically, and spiritually.

We testify to all who read this that Heavenly Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are there for us all if we are willing to turn to them in good times and bad. These three men work together to help us if we just remember to ask. Lee and I have started to use the mantra "Team Earl!" On that team are the two of us, the people supporting us, and Our Father, Brother Jesus, and the Holy Ghost. We are all a team and we can do this because of the team!

We say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


Now, I have one more thing to say about our walk today. We added some new exercises to our walking routine today. At the end of every block, we are now resting temporarily, doing some knee lifts and standing crunches, and moving on to do another block! We got home today feeling the pain of the extra exercises, but the euphoria of being able to do more!

Great news today!

Before I get to the news, I want to bring you up to date on how all of this started.

We have been trying to lose weight for a few years, but we weren't always dedicated enough. Over the years, we've learned a lot about losing weight. We've learned that Lee has a great metabolism that just needs a kickstart and he can lose weight quickly; we also learned that I don't.

In the past, the only time that I've actually lost any significant weight has been when I practically starved myself, did hard exercising for over 30 minutes in the morning, over 30 minutes before bed, and walked 5 - 10 miles a day because I didn't have a car, and it was often faster than taking the bus. I was severely depressed at the time, as well, so I was using it all to forget and/or get a rush of endorphins to make me feel better. Obviously, it didn't work. Don't get me wrong, I lost weight, but I was also really unhealthy, and didn't know how to keep it off once I stopped feeling so depressed.

Lee has had his own struggles with mental health issues that have made it hard for him to be dedicated enough to continue losing weight whenever he started. He's a little more private than I am, though, so I won't go into as much detail.

Our second week walking

Over the years of trying to lose weight, we've had a great personal trainer, seen a nutritionist, and worked with both our doctor and physical therapist. It has all led to where we are today, it just took a little time for us to truly be ready.

Lee has gotten to the point where he has had to pursue Disability because he physically hasn't been able to keep a job. It has been such a stressful and depressing time. I would advise not trying to pursue Disability unless it is absolutely necessary. It is not for the feint of heart. They really dig into your past and present, and it is not easy to get a positive result.

Although the process has been very trying for us and our marriage, one of the best results was that it helped us realize that we are finally ready to commit to losing weight. We took all of the advice, all of the knowledge, and all of the training we've had over the years and built our own Lifestyle Change Plan.

One of the best lessons we learned about nutrition is that diets don't work. In fact, our nutritionist even told us that until we have changed the way we eat, we shouldn't even count our calories. According to her, until you can learn to eat right, counting calories ends up with people binging and starving themselves. If you aren't in the habit of healthy eating in the first place, and you start restricting yourself to so many calories a day, most people meet that requirement by lunch, then starve for the rest of the day. That makes it harder to avoid binging, and it also makes people feel worse, not better.

We missed a week of pictures, but this is week 4 of walking.

Following her advice, we haven't taken any item out of our diet, either. Instead, we've started adding more healthy foods (especially fruits and vegetables), and limiting our intake. We started out by simply putting a spoonful or two less on our plates, and when we were full we stop eating, even if the plate still has food on it. If we still wanted to eat a donut or a candy bar,  etc., we let ourselves. Denying foods and quitting cold turkey is another way to end up binging. However, we started limiting how much junk food we eat, as well (that includes soda or other sugary drinks). Instead of having junk food every day, we cut back to every other day; and if we felt we needed it on a bad day but it wasn't the scheduled day, we let ourselves have it. Then we got right back on the horse, so to speak.

We've spent a lot of time trying to start a walking routine. We both like walking, especially together. It's time together without daily distractions, and we support and encourage each other. A year ago, Lee couldn't walk even a block from the house without endangering his health. Over the year, although not daily, we've started walking more and more. About 8 weeks ago, we realized that we could now walk a mile! It was still difficult to walk that far every day, but we determined to start trying. Nearly 7 weeks ago, we decided to start tracking our walks and sharing with our friends and family on Facebook as a way to prove to ourselves that we could do it, and get support from those we know and love. It's been amazing to see how much support we really do have. We want to let everyone know how much it has meant to us, and how much it has helped. 

This was last week. Over the first 5 weeks, we had a lot of good days and a lot of discouraging days. We also had a lot of days we didn't make it out walking at all, and days we didn't follow our eating plan. But I am proud to say that we always started back up again.

Now for the news I promised in the title. Two days ago we completed an entire week of walking every day! Yesterday we started walking 1.25 miles (and survived, ha ha)! Today we went to get weighed and Lee has lost another 4 pounds in a month, and I've lost 3! That is now a total of 47 combined pounds lost in the last 6 months, and most of it was Lee! I think that the above photo fits the news well, don't you?

This is us on the first 2 days of starting our mile walks, Mar 31 and Apr 1, 2015. Together we weighed approximately 870 pounds. We didn't actually weigh ourselves, too ashamed of how much we might weigh. However, from previous weigh-ins, we're pretty sure that number is somewhat accurate, give or take 10 - 15 lbs. Our goal was to go walking at least a mile, or do other exercise, every day. We were also adding more fruits and veggies and starting to cut back on our intake.

Over the next few days, I will fill in our history and what we are doing to improve our lives and health, along with the pictures that have been taken since we started. Our purpose in doing this is to show how difficult and rewarding it will be, and hopefully encourage others to start making their lives healthier, as well.