Call me Tumie.
Might as well,
my tummy is so large, I look 10 1/2 or 12 months pregnant. I am 60 years old,
5'2", 260 pounds, and about to get my 2nd knee replaced because there is
no cartilage left in it. Having made those arrangements for the surgery, I went
out of town for most of May, trying to relax for a time rather than get nervous
waiting.
While at that
vacation resort, it didn't take me long to realize I was unhappy with myself.
Each glance in a mirror revealed a morbidly obese old woman, whose brown hair
was drab and revealing quite a bit of gray. My face was developing jowls and
tiny wrinkles that would not stay tiny for long.
I should have
a lot more useful and fun years left. My grandmother lived to 99. But I wasn't
going to get those years if I didn't address these problems I saw in myself.
What was I going to do?
The first
thing I did was color my hair. That was an immediate change that I could see
with every glance at the mirror, and served as a promise to myself that other
changes were under way, changes that would not be visible right away.
Other things I
did:
1. Started
going to the resort pool and working out. A lot of walking back and forth in
chest-high water, which relieved a lot of the weight bearing down on my knees
and also offered resistance. By the time I left for the trip home, I could feel
the difference in how far I could walk before I needed to rest.
2. I read a
fitness magazine, which I was afraid would make me even more depressed about my
condition. But I did find a few snippets of things I could do to help my body.
For instance, for each pound I weigh, I should be drinking an ounce of water
each day. 260 pounds, 260 ounces, which is just over 2 gallons, which I
guarantee you I have not been getting.
3. When I went
to my pre-surgery physical, I discovered my doctor's office had a dietician in
the same building, so I made an appointment that very day. She's going to help
me figure out how to 'balance' my diet, and once I get the okay to go to the
gym again, we'll tackle adding exercise to my routine.
So many of
these processes take a long time to see any progress. I don't expect miracles,
but by keeping this blog as a trail of what I have done, I'm hoping it will
help me stay on the path. If my tale of a (probably rocky) trail to better
health helps others face their issues, that would be the icing on my
(imaginary) cake.
