Mari C.
Re finding myself
Mar 04, 2015
March 2015 - Rolling up on my 10 year anniversary - time to look back - and forward. I never got as low as i wanted. 165 seemed to be my most stable weight and it was achieved at two years. In April 2011 i herniated three disks in my back - not even doing anything fun - just a rough landing in an airport ! The next year that followed was painful. Physical Therapy - eight injections - anything to move without pain. The pounds packed on. In April 2012 (April seems to be my month) i had spinal surgery. I consider it a success: i gained mobility back (legs did not collapse out from under me unexpectedly) but ; isn't there always a but ; the pain did not leave. i described it as wrapping barbed wired around both legs clear to the ankles. At the ankles it felt like 1 inch wide tourniquets that would tighten and loosen throughout the day. 16 weeks of physical therapy and medication upon medication. I gained and gained. in 2014 and up to 215 i was only 100 pounds away from returning to my weight. I say only because the 50 pounds just appeared so quickly. The doctors say that the pain is there to stay - nerves are like that - if after two years odds are that they have healed as much as they are going to. Decision time had arrived. THE COMMITMENT: i was not going back! There is a local landmark here in Central Pa. called the Thousand steps. These are stones placed on a mountain leading up to a stone quarry. they were placed there by the people working in the quarry to get to work. Now it is a local scenic landmark. The terrain is treacherous and extremely physically demanding. My coworkers were working to complete the trip to the top and working on improving their time. I felt left out, depressed at the weight gain, walking with a cane and thinking how unfair all this was. So one day my husband and i went to the steps. No one told me there was a rocky 1/2 mile hike to the beginning of the steps. I was worn out by the time i got there. But i kept going. by the 500th step i my legs were shaking and i was done. but i had going halfway. wow.... i was determined to see the top. i trained for the steps and asked to join my coworkers one day. They were patient - allowing me to rest every two hundred steps but in 45 minutes I made it to the top.... I made it to the top.... I MADE IT.
March 2015.... I have lost 40 pounds and am down to 175. i have been here for a while but now i am reconnecting with this site to regain control and get to the weight i want. so I am here for encouragement, guidance, and to share the journey with you. So please keep me going...
