I find there are three health benefits of being productive. I’m not necessarily talking about cleaning the whole house or an equally large activity. Even something smaller like getting X amount of laundry or dishes done. Something manageable but productive but nothing that is too much.
After getting something done & done well, I feel three things:
Additionally, I feel better about myself and accomplished as I’ve set a realistic goal & reached it.
I did not like that number, but wasn’t really in a position to do much about it. Between finances & available services & programs there’s not much I could do. So I started just eating less.. In the summer, we would walk over to the community pool and I would swim – not laps really, but just treading water.. it took a few years, but I lost about 25 lb in 4-5 years with that schedule. Very slow progress, but progress nonetheless.
At that point I moved out of the city, back near my family. My rent included membership to the local YMCA gym. I didn’t figure I’d be using the actual gym much, but I knew I’d use the hot tub. So, I used the hot tub 5-6 days of the week. I then started doing a yoga class at the gym for about a year until the instructor switched times. Then about 2 years ago,, my mom invited me to join her aquafit class..I started doing not much more than bouncing around in the water. But it was fun, so I kept coming back..
At this same time, my eating habits got better. While I still ate junk food, it was less often, and I was eating at least one good healthy & nutritious meal a day. That’s much better than before where fast food was the norm and serving sizes were twice what they shood be.
In the Aquafit, I was slowly working with increased intensity in the class… I started going to a second class later in the week. . The weight started coming off faster.
I tried to add jogging into the mix, but I just couldn’t get into it mentally, not on the ground and my lungs could not handle the cardio What I did do, I would run laps in the water. This worked the muscles but the cardio wasn’t as strong as I was unable to keep my breath while jogging .
I was improving. My health was getting better, pain levels went down (no, not gone, unfortunately), and my clothing started to get looser and looser.
I had items in a size 26 in my closet. I was swimming in those.most of my clothing was a 3X.. and I started to swim in those.
I feel better.. I feel healthier and happier. I actually feel like myself again.
Where do I stand now? I am a size 16, currently weighing in at 207lb, as of my last weigh in. a total loss of 97 lb so far.
Final goal? 180lb.
I have set myself 3 very specific weight goals to meet. Each goal is a non-food reward.. And before I get the reward, I must maintain that goal level for a month.
What are my rewards? Tattoos. I’ve been wanting to get some for a while now and figured this was a good way to get them. I have to work for them.
Goal 1: 100kg. Gets me out of the metric Onederland.
This Tattoo is my Scouting tat with a fleur-de-lis under the Koolaid man making a cub sign. I have it drawn up & ready to go. My niece drew it for me. This is going on the back of my shoulder and be only 1-1½ inches big This is what it looks like:
Goal Met & Maintained.
Goal 2: 200lb. Gets me into the imperial Onederland.
This tattoo to a nod to my chronic health issues. It’s to be a butterfly, in a 3D image with a shadow. The butterfly colour will be shades of purple..I have an idea of what I want, just is not drawn out. This is likely going on the opposite shoulder & will be about 2-3 inches in size This is kinda what I’m thinking:
As of June 6th, I am 7 lb away So, I’m getting close.
Goal 3: 180lb. This is where, I’m told, I should be. Final weight.
This tattoo will be a rose or set of roses in shades of pink, blue & purple with my alias on it somehow. I’m not exactly sure what design, but it will be bigger than the other two, depending on cost. Maybe something like this:
I am still 25-30lb from this point. .
Fibromyalgia 
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