Introduction!

Hello there, everyone! My name is Janet and I am so happy to join this group. I'm happy because it's called "HEALTHY" challenge, and my main focus is on health! I have lost 57 pounds so far and still have 20 more to go....so I'm on my way, but am having a REALLY hard time getting rid of these last pounds!!ARG! What motivated me to get start to get healthy? Well, sit down and listen to my crazy story....

A year and half ago, some wonky things started happening to my body. Strange thing number one- my nipples started to bleed. I know that it's a fairly personal thing, but hey, we're all ladies here, right? So off I went to the doctor, where I was informed that I might have breast cancer. That was a shock! I was 31 and scared! I went through all the testing and....NO CANCER! I was VERY grateful, but what on earth was causing the bleeding?

Strange thing number two- horrible periods, strange mood swings, lots of hair growth and acne on my face. What on earth? A lot of that I had had for years, but it seemed worse for some reason. So...back to the doctor to figure it out. They found a tumour on my pituitary gland in my brain. I was scared to death, but my doctor assured me that MANY women actually have it (it's called a "pituitary adenoma") and I did my research, and the doctor did PLENTY of tests. Sure enough- it was benign, and it was really small. Still, if affected my hormone levels and thus all the strange things. So....now I'm on hormone therapy, and getting regular blood tests done. I have had NO growth from the tumour. My doctor assures me that it is non-cancerous but is just a pain for me. So.....

I started to take my health VERY seriously. You start to realize after almost having breast cancer, then almost having brain cancer (I thought) that life is so precious and that you do NOT want to miss out on anything because you can't do things. I started to exercise every day, and I LOVED it! I feel so much stronger now, so much healthier. Just tonight on our walk my son feel off his bike and I ran to him. I was taken aback when I got there that I wasn't even the least bit out of breath. Such a good feeling.

Anyway, that's why I'm here. I want to continue on with this healthy journey. I don't want to be a stick. I know I will never look like a model. But I want to be healthy and happy for my family, and for me.

It's Time!

As some of you know, we are expecting our referral any day now! Whoohoo! I have been meaning to “loose a few” for the past couple of months now but it just hasn’t happened. I think that once I get my referral, some of the stress eating will subside (I hope!). I want to be healthy and strong for my trip to China. I want to be smiling and proud in every picture and not be jumping out of the way every time someone points a camera (or video camera) my way. I am hoping to carry my daughter in a sling most of the time (to promote bonding) so I want to have the upper body strength to do this. Having done this before – I remember how much my arms and back hurt – I swore that next time I would do weights before our trip!
I also want to bound up the steps of the great Wall of China – not be the person huffing and puffing at the back of the pack.

I am excited to be joining this group and hope this helps motivate me to get off my butt.

Julie

It's time to take control...

It's amazing how looking at a photo can give us motivation to take control of our life.

This photo was taken on our Waiting Mommas Disney trip. I don't look great, but I didn't think it was that bad so alarms didn't really go off at the time...

















Later that month I saw this photo (courtesy of my brother, thanks a lot Jim) and was horrified. Oh my God, do I REALLY look like that? My poor hubby didn't bargain for this. I am SO embarrased. For me, this is the ultimate "before" photo and it's time to make some changes for the future.



I want to come up with a plan for a healthy lifestyle. I'm not talking about a crash diet to loose pounds fast...I'm talking about an exercise and eating plan to get me moving in the right direction.

I don't want my daughter to be the one with the "fat" mom. I want her to be proud to call me "mom" and I want to have no restrictions when it comes to doing activities with her.

I'm inviting everyone to join me in this wellness challenge. If you're interested, I can add you as an author on this blog and we can use it as a group forum for posting our ideas, challanges, successes, concerns, monthly goals, etc. Once we get going, I'm planning on setting the blog up so that only authors can view the blog. I feel this topic is personal and doesn't need to be shared with everyone out in Blogville. E-mail me here if you would like to join in.