Weight Watchers
Well, I am facing the music now as many stroke survivors are doing. Being disabled is a reason that some people gain weight after a stroke. I have decided that being overweight is NOT for me. Having never had a significant weight problem before my stroke, I scorned the masses who went to their weekly WW meeting in hopes of encouragement on their journey. My Mom has attempted several times since I was very small but only to give up and gain more weight. My stroke gave me a big wake up call in that I realized I had inherited some rather dangerous genetics from both my parents who had weight issues, my dad eventually passing away from heart failure at age 74. Now I am retired and have time to take care of my health so I started to follow many of the popular programs in our pop culture today. only to get bored and go back to my learned habits. I was really lucky to recover my ability to walk albeit I wear an AFO and use a cane and have a great deal of spasticity on my left side. BUT I can walk! My first instincts after the stroke was that I needed to find a way to burn the energy I was consuming or else walking may become difficult in the future. My staircase became my gym for a month or two until my rehab was done and I could confidently take walks on my own in our neighbourhood. We have bike paths which make walking quite safe from traffic.
We also have severe winters with lots of snow.Sidewalks are rarely visible from December until mid- April and if we get freezing rain they are hazardous for anyone. This meant I would have to find a way to walk indoors somewhere. In Canada we love indoor malls and St. Bruno has a beauty. Two floors and two elevators with a few coffee shops to have a cup of jo after a 30 minute stroll around one floor, My municipality provides handicap transportation from my house to the door of the mall for less than 3$. It is really a no brainer.
Now the logistics have been dealt with, I have everything I really need to stay healthy for life.
My Mom has had some real success with Weight Watcher this last year and has been trying to coax me to join so I figure that because I have been getting poor results on my own, I would be stupid to not give it a try.
August 28th I signed up. I have lost 5.6 pounds in little over a month. I feel health returning with all the fruits and vegetables that I now eat. This weekend is Canada's ThanksGiving and there will be much to deal with so I expect that I will be hitting some rough waters before my next meeting next Tuesday. At least my seritonin levels have been replentished by the glorious Indian Summer we are enjoying this week. I can do this. I survived a stroke so losing a few pounds is just another challenge among others I will have at some point. Nothing to sweat about. Small stuff indeed.
Wish me luck
Pat
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