quote:

With the blink of an eye
You finally see the light...Aerosmith, 1994

This quote comes from one of my favorite Aerosmith songs-Amazing...has some great lyrics...anyway...

When did you "see the light"? At what moment did it hit you that you needed to get healthy? Was it a picture, something someone said? I mean the REAL kick in the pants, how did I let myself get this far moment! How did you feel at that moment and what was your first step towards a healthier you? When you look back at the you before that moment, what do you remember about your life and how is your life different today?

Extra Credit or for those who are thinking TGIF and don't want to think about the above homework:

What are the three kitchen tools, gadgets, appliances(other than your stove/microwave/fridge) that you cannot live without?

Have a great weekend everyone(it is going to be 70 degrees here today so my weekend is starting off quite well)!!!!!
Jill

Kat said this:

quote:

Sometimes, now, I think how unfair life is that I have to think about what I am eating all the time and can't let loose with food for fear of never getting back on track. I have to remember the alternative...not being able to bend over to tie my shoes, not being able to walk without huffing and puffing, not being able to play with my students, eating until it hurts, having no self confidence, and the list goes on and on.

I love how you said that, Kat. It is so incredibly true. I may just have a new mantra: remember the alternative.

Thanks, Kat
Lynne

I remember seeing a picture of myself taken in Vegas and couldn't believe how HUGE I was. It was taken with a friend that I considered large and I was just a big as her I didn't start my journey then, but the picture never left my mind.

I had an aha moment 3 years ago when my dh was going through a bad depression time. I HAD to be healthy in order to help my dh and for me so that I wouldn't go crazy!!!

Food was not the answer and being unhealthy was a miserable time for me. Sometimes, now, I think how unfair life is that I have to think about what I am eating all the time and can't let loose with food for fear of never getting back on track. I have to remember the alternative...not being able to bend over to tie my shoes, not being able to walk without huffing and puffing, not being able to play with my students, eating until it hurts, having no self confidence, and the list goes on and on.

I also know that with time this body and lifestyle will be old hat. Even though I have been maintaining for one year I am still learning, struggling, planning and worried that it won't last!

Kitchen tools: microwave, stones from Pampered Chef, spatulas and wooden spoons.

My "aha" moment: http://kathleendaelemans.com/stories_success_laura.html

3 things I can't live without:
microplane grater
cast iron skillets
microwave

Yes, I admit it, I'm too lazy to type out the answer to the first question...so sue me!

When did you "see the light"? At what moment did it hit you that you needed to get healthy? Was it a picture, something someone said?

It was in November of 2004. I think I finally decided. It really wasn't a picture or what anyone said, that I know of. Even though I had started with a trainer back in August of that year, I wasn't very consistent and still putting on weight. I was pretty miserable, depressed and dealing with alot. I wasn't sure how I would survive the holidays. My great Aunt got very sick and passed away. My doctor put me on stronger meds and added meds for the blood pressure. I had never had high blood pressure before. It was a combination of those things, that I think finally pushed me over the edge to where it was do or die.

2. How did you feel at that moment and what was your first step towards a healthier you?

Honestly, I felt extremely terrified because as often I had tried in the past and failed I didn't know if I had the strength do it.

3. When you look back at the you before that moment, what do you remember about your life and how is your life different today?

Back then I was severely and deeply depressed among other things. Today, while I'm still struggling w/the depression and other things, I don't feel that intense pain on a daily basis as it used to be. I turn to others for support, when I can. I'm more open with my Mom, which actually has improved our relationship. I am taking the steps necessary to get well, with the last leg to work with a nutritionist/counselor to deal w/food issues.

I have been off the blood pressure medicine for quite some time. I have dropped one of the doses of my diabetes meds. I feel much more fitter. Probably the greatest joy, is that 90% of the time when I take the stairs, I don't have to hold on. I can support myself and I don't have knee pain. I also have some muscle. I can feel my biceps where it used to be just like jello.. I have opened up more to others and I have made friends at the gym... and I can touch my toes!!! I have lost weight and decreased my BMI.

Now that I have gotten this far... I don't want to go back and that helps me most days to push on.

Kitchen tools I use daily: Wustoff santoku knife, nonstick calphalon, Braun coffee machine.

Aha- moment: When I surpassed my weight fully pregnant, and then stopped minding that I had. It sort of scared me. There wasn't really a moment for me, it was more like a growing longing that I finally listened to instead of stuffing it down. I finally just wanted to feel better more than I wanted to avoid changing.

Lynne

Right after I graduated from college and moved back to my hometown I had noticed a slight increase in my weight. I knew then somehow in the back of my head that I needed to really increase my sense of knowing how to be healthy and fit. Luckily, I was healthy and fit for the most part during college since my sister had told me about Freshman 15 and such.

I started taking Yoga and then enrolled in a healthy lifestyle type class at work. I really learned a lot and gained support at the same time. At this time, I was also teaching myself how to cook.

Fastforward some and I became OBSESSED with Food Network and came across more ideas on how to cook and also people like KD who showed me ways to continue a healthy lifestyle.

So here I am about 6 years later SO happy and consider myself to still be healthy.

quote:

...At what moment did it hit you that you needed to get healthy?...

When squeezing myself into my jeans became a major challenge; almost impossible.

If I remember correctly, 3 years ago it was a combination of clothes not fitting, a photo, coming off a stressful move and just the general need to get into shape.

Right now, I'm kind of going through the clothes not fitting again, even my "big" clothes.

3 things in my kitchen:

My Chantal ceramic coated pan, my French Press coffee maker (which is now a weekend treat), and I don't know my wine glasses.. Yes, I can live without them, but I love all my wine glasses.

I can't say that I had a real wake up call. I have always been interested in being healthy and fit, and when I started working full-time, I could see the weight creeping on. I didn't want to let it creep any farther.

___________


I like my kitchen things, but I can't say I have anything that is truly "must have".

I had a physical for fire academy, and was 12 lbs over the weight max, and 10 points over the cholesterol max.

Love my Henckels Santoku, my microplane, and my clamshell (used to be) locking tongs!

Seeing myself on a family video in a bathing suit in Florida. It was a huge wake up call on how big I had gotten as I was in big time denial. I read Bob Greene's fitness makeover plan on the plane coming home and got immediately to work.

3 tools I can't live without:
food scale
microplane grater
silicone potholder

I turned 50 --- I felt that half of my life was over; and the other half was just beginning. I wanted the second half to be much better than the first. The most obvious thing staring at me was my weight; and that's where I started. So I had a physcial and BAM! many health issues surfaced, and yes, it was a kick in the head...the time was NOW!

I can say three years later, things are better, things are the same, and things are worse. But for the most part....they are all better than they would have been had the kick not made it's mark!

My tools, my RR knife, tongs, and scale.

When did you "see the light"? At what moment did it hit you that you needed to get healthy?
_________________________________________________

In the past when I tried to lose weight it was for the sake of losing weight and being thinner. Not thin, I considered that an impossibility, just thinner.
After losing so much weight due to cancer (I was still in the overweight range for my height), I decided I did not want to pack it back on again (although some of it has come back). That is when I discovered KD and started watching what I eat for health reasons not weight loss. I figure if I eat and exercise like a healthy person in my optimum (sp?) weight range does, my body will eventually adjust to that weight range. At my age I am not trying to catch or keep a man so there is no hurry, I have the rest of my life to get there

__________________________________________________
What are the three kitchen tools, gadgets, appliances(other than your stove/microwave/fridge) that you cannot live without?

__________________________________________________

The microplane grater, the v-slicer and my mini-chopper.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BrenauMom,

My weight has always been an issue for me. All of my life. I was never a fat kid, but always worried about getting fat and with each pregnancy, my 5 foot frame hit 200 pounds.

In my 20's it came off easily, in my 30's it got harder. Well, by the time my 3rd child was 4 months old, I was about 180.

I have had thyroid disease and always used that as my excuse, but when I learned that I had cardiomyopathy and could eventually need a heart transplant, I got scared. That was when I wrote my first letter to KD. I started to eat healthy, started exercising and lost about 40 pounds.

That 40 pounds has gone and some has come and gone over and over again over the years. I have tried to be consistent in my exercise. The aerobic exercise has improved my heart function tremendously. I went from an ejection fraction (the amount of push the heart uses to push the blood through the body) of 30 % to 45%. A normal ef is about 60%.

So, I could do better, but I have done really well. Basically, my turn around came when I decided that I didn't want to die.

I think though that is the case for all overweight and obese people. The obesity can really kill you in one way or another. The heart just can not maintain such a big load and so, the blood pressure is effected, the veins and arteries. The whole body suffers.

We have a lot of people who love us and rely on us. Our children really need us. So, we need to be healthy for them. To be there for them for a long time and to teach them to be healthy themselves.


Part two........ I can not live without my big giant saute pan. I use it every day. And my really sharp knives....love them too.

And part three.....can not go on without the support of my friends, including you guys. This forum has been a daily help for me for several years now and I am happy to be a part of it.

Can opener, wine cork screw (actually a machine thingy) and coffee maker...

Seriously (actually those are things I can't live without but to better give you answers you are looking for)...

My Calphalon knife set, my calphalon everyday pan and my toaster oven. (Oh, I love my steamer too. OK, I have many more than three!! LOL!!)

I don't know if I ever had a "kick" in the pants moment. I have worked to become more fit and have worried about my weight since I was a teen. I actually NEED a kick right now.