In 2000, I was 28 years old….and working about 60+ hours per week as a Branch Manager of one of the largest and most profitable branches at Peoples Bank. When I left work, the last thing that I wanted to do was exercise and, even though I loved coaching, it was a struggle for me to want to go to the basketball gym or the softball field twice per week. I had completely given up playing softball, tennis, and basketball after tearing my achillis tendon twice the year before and I just could not get myself motivated to attemp to play anything. I used the injury as an excuse for why I couldn’t play and due to the lack of exercise, I begin putting on weight. I was never small however I was a whole lot smaller than I am now.
By the end of 2000 and into 2001, going through a divorce seemed to put a little life back into me…I started playing softball again and began running…if you can believe that. I would run about 3 miles every morning before work and would go to the gym or run the hill at Spinaker Bay condos at night. Even though I played sports competitively until I was 27, I was probably in the best shape of my life in 2001.
In 2002, I met Shane…we began dating and the gym, running and the hill at Spinaker Bay got further and further away. I fell in love with Shane…and with playing golf. The time that I had been using for working out was replaced with Shane and golf….not that I am complaining….I love my life with Shane.
In 2004, Shane and I decided it was time that we needed to lose weight and get healthier….and we did it. He lost over 100 pounds and I lost 70 pounds and we did feel and look great. We worked out every morning and played softball a couple nights per week. We learned how to eat healthy and even though we felt like we had changed our eating habits and would never go back to the way we had eaten before, we were wrong.
The summer of 2005, I got pregnant….we were so excited!! All I wanted was carbs and I needed to have something quick to eat with me all of the time…I miscarried at 12 weeks and we were devastated. Over the following 6 months, I gained what I would have gained during a full term pregnancy because all I wanted to do was eat…and I don’t remember it being very healthy. I still played softball and golf but I didn’t go to the gym, and exercise was not something that I felt like doing for a long time.
I had just started working out again with my friend, Jill, in 2007 when I had an issue at a doctor’s office that left me on a ventillator in cardiac care at Carolina’s Medical Center-Main for five days. After I was released from the hospital, I found out that I had a damaged vocal chord and trachea. I went through voice therapy to learn how to breathe and talk with a partially paralyzed vocal chord. I still sound like I am wheezing after just the slightest amount of exertion however I am tired of using this as an excuse…I did continue to play softball and basketball during the last few years, and I did go through a time when I was obsessed with going to the gym, but I never changed my life and decided that I wanted to be healthier so I never succeed in having a healthier life.
Several weeks ago, I was having my own little pity party about being old, fat and slow…when I realized it was time to do something about it! I got on the scales and wanted to throw up…I weighed more than I had ever weighed in my life. I know that I can’t do this alone and that is why I have contacted one of my husband’s friends, Jeff Heal at Fitness Together in Davidson to help me with this. I expect to be held accountable and I need to have someone push me to acheive my goals. By this time next year, Jeff and all of my friends will be proud of my accomplishments….but more importantly I will have suceeded in my journey for a healthier lifestyle and will be living it.
