Why the heck did I call this blog Nervie Jane? Is my real name Minerva? Nope. Growing up with undiagnosed ADHD I tended to lose focus and not hear my name called especially if I was hyper focused on a book or television show. My mom would call my actual name 3 or 4 times and if I didn't respond she would call me "MINERVA JANE!" or "NERVIE JANE!" and that would almost guarantee I would hear her. My mom passed away from complications with surgery for colon cancer in 2005. Since then I have kind of used this as my online persona/name. Its a tribute to my strong and amazing Mom.
I'm almost done with the losing portion of the weight loss journey and heading towards maintenance. Everyone thinks weight loss is the hard part but from everything I read and everyone I talk to I believe maintenance is going to be tougher. Personally with my weight loss I've always had the next weight loss goal to hit or the next milestone to achieve. Those milestones and lower numbers on the scale are pretty great rewards. The struggle will be when my goals aren't scale related anymore. What does a maintenance lifestyle look like?I will get more into that in later entries I'm sure but thought I would round things out with a little more about me.
About a year and a half ago I went home to Illinois to be with my family while my heart replacement surgery. I come from a large family, I have 3 older sisters and 3 older brothers. We were mostly all at the hospital and hanging out together for several days. Two of my sisters(Connie and Carrie) had been on their own weight loss journeys and making healthy choices. There was a lot of downtime and waiting at the hospital and they would go walking and stay active. At the time I weighed nearly 300 pounds and was usually in some sort of pain with my hips and back. I couldn't/didn't walk or exercise with them on the trip. My other sister(Melanie) has a lot of chronic health and pain issues and was also unable to walk with them. During our trip we were using a wheelchair to help her get around and she was in a lot of pain and taking a lot of pain medications. I saw this and it scared me because I knew that I have some of the same issues with joint pain that she has and my weight exacerbated my issues. (To clarify there is a 17-18 year age difference between Connie, Melanie and I. I am the youngest sibling and they are the two oldest.)
When I got home from the trip the thought of not being able to keep up with my sisters bothered me. The idea of being this fat lady only in her 40's and unable to be mobile scared the CRAP out of me. If Melanie has always been thin and was in that much pain what was it going to be like for me?
On June 3, 2017 I weighed in at 281.6 pounds at my first Weight Watchers meeting. I had tried Weight Watchers previously and had success only to quit because of financial reasons or other circumstances. I knew it worked I just had to DO IT. As of this Saturday August 18, 2018 I weigh 171.2 pounds. I am 5'9" tall so a healthy BMI for me starts at 169 pounds. When I was at my heaviest I had a BMI of 41.6 and was considered obese. I will say it right now BMI is definitely not the only indicator of health. I know that it is a horribly flawed system. BUT it does give you a building block to start from when you try to figure out what is healthy for you. Weight is not the only indicator of health. I started WW with the idea that I would get down to around 200 pounds or so just until I felt like I was at a healthy weight. I've discussed my weight, and family history of heart disease and colon cancer with my doctor since then. (My doctor is AMAZING btw!) And given that I carry fat in my abdominal area 200 pounds wasn't a healthy weight for me. TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR folks. Seriously having these real discussions with my doc have helped me so much.
Ok, I've been rambling a lot and gone on for too long. More info and specifics in future posts!
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