It's Been Awhile!

 

 

The past 18 months have been exceedingly difficult for me and my family. In November, 2019 my dad's health started to fail and he was in and out of the hospital several times with various issues and a skin infection on his shins due to water retention. We had to move him to a long term care facility because we could not adequately care for him on our own and home health wasn't working either. Eventually, Dad passed away on January 3, 2021. I still don't think I've processed it all. He was the best Daddy I could've ever had.He loved us well and he treasured all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

 

 

In February of this year, we had to let our precious Hannah Grace go. One day, she just stopped eating. Not totally uncommon for her, but she didn't want to eat the next day either. Off to the vet where they did tests and x-rays. Her kidneys looked good, but the x-ray showed something in her abdomen. We ended up taking her to the emergency vet where they did a barium x-ray and ultrasound. She was diagnosed with intestinal lymphoma and had many growths on her spleen which were already producing fluid in her abdominal cavity. Mark and I made the very difficult, but most loving decision we could've made. Hannah was only about 6 months old when she came to live with us and we were fortunate to have her for almost 16 years. 

After the stress and chaos of 2020 (I worked during the pandemic and closures) along with these 2 losses, I realized that I needed to take better care of myself because I'm not getting any younger and I want to be able to go on mission trips and do volunteer work for God as I get older. That will be difficult to do if I don't lose weight and get my own health under control!  I talked to a friend of mine who's lost over 50 pounds, but the program she was on was going to cost me $385 a month for food. I'm not a big fan of pre-packaged and processed foods to begin with, not to mention that my budget cannot handle $385 a month. That's like our whole food budget for the month!

Sometime within the last year or so, I ran across DDP Yoga, which is not traditional yoga. It's a combination of yoga, fitness, dynamic resistance, and calisthenics. It was developed by former wrestling champion Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) and is for anyone at any stage of health. There's a series with stretches and exercises done in bed for people who have mobility issues all the way to those who are in excellent condition and want a challenge. Check out the website and read all the inspirational success stories. 

Four weeks ago, I downloaded the app and began my fitness journey. For the first week, I fiddled around with various levels of workouts and finally decided to start with the chair to standing series because while I am very mobile and am on my feet A LOT, my core strength isn't the best and I was very wobbly on many of the stretches and poses. I am so glad I backed down to this level because it's allowed me to gain confidence and some mobility. Yay!

So in the first 3 weeks, this is what I've accomplished:

--Down 10 pounds 

--Changed my diet and eliminated gluten and sweets

--Pain and swelling in my hands is gone

--Mobility and flexibility has increased

--Chronic back pain and hip pain has lessened

--More energy

--I feel better 

I do a Bed Flex workout in the morning before I go to work to wake up and work out tightness in my muscles and then 3 or 4 days a week, I do a regular workout video. My first goal is to lose 50 pounds, but ultimately I want to lose 150 pounds over the next couple of years. I'll be posting about my journey, so stay tuned!