Skip to main content

Down more than 24





NewsFlash NewsFlash NewsFlash!!

 Updates to this original story read below. Monumental turn of events!

 My life has been a lot like this roller coaster. Not just ups and downs, but several twists and turns. Sometimes I am whooping for joy, hands in the air ready for the what lies ahead while at other times I can see a loop or drop coming and the dread is palatable, the nausea is real.

And also like a roller coaster is my weight. I've never been svelte but I have been within the BMI range. I have also been overweight and more recently the scale put me in the obese category. And that should have scared me into action but instead I just made excuses or rationalizations like "It's because I use a wheelchair to get around," or "I'm sure once X happens I'll lose that weight." 

I have lost 25-plus pounds so many times and but those pounds gather friends and come back to find me. I know I'm a friendly sort, but I didn't want them to come back especially with 5, 10, 15 or 20 friends. I've tried Diet Center, Medical Weight Loss Center and Weight Watchers. And I've tried combinations of those plans to create my own special plan (because wine or cheese aren't included in some, I've even adapted these to fit my tastes!). I've tried Slim Fast and Shakelee, diet pills and starving. I am a weight loss professional. Except, I'm not because I've never been able to keep it off. I'm more like a losing loser with a big L on my forehead.

 So, this battle of the bulge is something I've been fighting nearly all my life. When I was pregnant with Michael and Delaney I gained over 40 pounds (with Matthew it was only 22, and it was because I was doing water aerobics four times a week and running around with toddler Michael).  

In January, I joined half of this country in making a resolution to lose weight. And this is a resolution I've kept. I signed up for Weight Watchers. And it's working - so far I'm down 25.4 pounds. The first couple weeks it was slow going - losing a .2 or .5 pounds. I tried not to get discouraged and vividly recall one woman at a meeting say she'd lost 60 pounds by losing .2 or .5 pounds a week. And there are women (and Jack) in my group that I look forward to connecting and sharing with each week in my meeting. It's a challenge having a 50-something metabolism that is slower than molasses (4 points for a tablespoon) in January. And that challenge is made even more monumental by the fact that my movement is hampered by MS and the fact that I use a wheelchair as my primary mode of transport.

Funny thing happened though- about three months ago, I found a fun and funky chair aerobics to add to my exercise routine (which up to then meant the stationary bike which can get tedious). It was just the ticket because after doing these fun routines, I felt stronger and had more energy and suddenly my weekly weight loss has been more like 1 to 2.5 pounds. And now I've added a couple music videos (Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars) that I dance around to after the aerobics are done. It's not pretty to watch but it sure is fun for me!! So Uptown funk me up because I got a feeling!

I'm not done yet. I probably have another 15-25 pounds to go to reach my goal and become a lifetime weight watchers member. And I want to be a lifetime member because I know that this has to be part of my life to be done with the roller coaster.

 NewsFlash NewsFlash NewsFlash!!!

 Kathleen Bowen Piggins reached her weight loss goal while on Weight Watchers and even exceeded her original goal by 10 pounds. So enthralled by the program, Ms. Piggins joined the Weight Watchers company in November of 2017.

 The total loss is 43 pounds.

 "I won't give the actual weight," Ms. Piggins said, "but it is within the BMI range for the first time in many years. AND, I've been maintaining that loss for three months so far."

 She attributes her ability to maintain the loss by looking at the Weight Watcher program not as a d-i-e-t (a word she claims to be 'dirty' and unproductive) but as a lifestyle. 

 "I am balancing the roller-coaster that has been my life by not celebrating the loss by getting off the ride," she explained. "Instead, I've taken ownership of the ride and am working to lessen the ups and downs, creating a smoother journey."

 She said that working for Weight Watchers gives her focus on healthy living and is a good fit, because she gets to be with other people with the same life-long struggles. She has always enjoyed helping other people and hearing their stories, which makes being a professional Weight Watcher a natural fit.

Comments

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

Going off the Rails on a Crazy Train

While getting an MRI recently, I selected to listen to a classic rock station. Actually I requested a station that played 70s or 80s music and the tech asked if I wanted pop or rock. "Well, classic rock would probably be better since I have to hold still," I responded. "If I listened to pop, I'd want to be dancing." And so I laid perfectly still while listening (or kind of listening since really in an MRI you never really drown out the loud bangs, whirs and booms). And it came to pass that the song "Crazy Train" started playing and I started to silently and stillfully laugh to myself. What a strangely perfect song for this moment in my life. Ozzy Osbourne was singing my song (has anyone ever really said that ever before???)! "I'm going off the rails on a crazy train," he sings/screams. (and a bunch of other lyrics I didn't understand because well, I was in an MRI and he was kind of screaming) You see the reason was that the MR...
Post a Comment
Read more

Parenting

I just read a post on Facebook regarding the dearth of parenting. The poster was describing a scene where two young girls were pelting rocks at some ducks in our little town and how he observed no parents around telling these girls that it was wrong to torture little innocent animals. Within hours, there were 15 responses - all alluding to a lack of parenting that is evident nearly everywhere today. Stick with me here - because that conversation reminded me of one I'd had recently that might not seem related to parenting at all. It was with my oldest son about his concern about the selfishness of our culture - most recently evident in the Wall Street meltdown. He believes that we are too focused on "Me" and not enough on "We" and if we had a little more focus on the total and just not our part, we would be in a much better place. Still there? Okay, here's the cement that will hold this together - those girls pelting little ducks with rocks weren't likely...
Post a Comment
Read more

I had to use a calculator

I have been living with MS since 1992 - I used the calculator on my phone to determine that it's 29 years (because unlike the man pictured above my math skills are lacking). That's a long time and you don't need to be mathematically inclined to come to that conclusion. And when first diagnosed, my neurologist declared that with all the research he believed a cure was imminent likely 'within five years'. that would mean that we would have had the cure 24 years ago. We don't. So I am grateful I didn't wager any money on Dr. Wiley's prediction.  But what we do have, instead of a cure, is a plethora of pharmaceuticals to help stem this disease's progression and help us live fuller lives, longer. I am happy for that but am also curious and a tad skeptical because these drugs cost a person living with MS a lot of money and pharma has no financial incentive to search for the cure when they can keep us living less gimpy lives for many years reliant on their ...
Post a Comment
Read more