Back from Orlando!

After being gone for 12 days, it's so good to be home again!  We spent 2-1/2 days driving to Orlando and 2 days driving home (we live in West Michigan), then enjoyed a 7-day park hopper pass at Disney plus one day at the beach.  Our daughter ran the Disney Princess Half-Marathon (the reason we went to Orlando) and had her best time ever. 

I'm not a runner, but wow, did I ever walk!  I wear a BodyBugg and it recorded 125,253 steps taken while we were at Disney.  Since it takes approximately 2,000 steps to equal a mile, I'm estimating I walked over 62 miles last week!  We averaged 8-10 miles of walking a day, but one day we walked over 11 miles.

If someone would have told me 5 years ago, when I weighed 260+ pounds, that I would walk 62 miles in a week or as much as 11 miles in a day, I wouldn't have believed them because it would have been impossible. 

I saw a lot of people at the parks in wheelchairs or motorized scooters.  Obviously I have no idea what physical conditions led to the need for assistance, but many of the individuals on scooters were quite obese.  I couldn't help but think that, but for the grace of God in leading me to this program, that would have been me.

There was some concern prior to going to Disney on whether or not I'd be able to do all of the walking as my knee has been slow to recover from last August's total knee replacement.  My daughter urged me to get a wheelchair or a motorized scooter, just in case.  I'm pretty stubborn, however, and insisted I wanted to do this on my own and would only acquiesce if I absolutely had to.  What a joy to get to the end of this trip and realize that I didn't need any assistance - I walked the entire time!

Losing weight and getting healthy continues to bring benefits, and being able to walk around at Disney holding the hands of one of my granddaughters was precious.  It was also great posing for all of the pictures at Disney (we had a photo pass so there were lots and lots of pictures taken), knowing that I looked pretty good :-).  On many of the rides, the girls (ages 9 & 7) would take turns riding with my husband and me.  The three of us fit just fine on the seat, but that wouldn't have happened prior to losing weight.  Since my husband also lost over 50 pounds, he and I would have more than filled the seat on the rides, leaving no room for a giggling little girl.

Walking around Disney, having my picture taken over and over again and sharing a seat on a ride might not seem like much to some people, but five years ago Disney would have been a much different and less enjoyable experience.  Even as I enjoyed our time with our daughter and her family, I couldn't help but be filled with gratitude that I COULD thoroughly enjoy it.  Yes, I lost a lot of weight, but I gained so much more as a result - I got my life back!  In fact, I got more than my life back, I got a life I didn't realize I could even have!

Being on 5&1 isn't always fun, and it certainly isn't always easy.  Sometimes it's easy to lose focus and wonder why we even bother.  I know all of those thoughts went through my mind on occasion while I was losing weight.  The reality is that we truly have no idea the difference getting to an maintaining a healthy weight will have on our lives.  Some of the benefits will be evident immediately, but other benefits may not be realized for a while - maybe even 4 or 5 years later!  The objective is to get to a healthy weight as quickly as possible, then use the healthy habits we've learned to stay healthy so we can truly get on with the rest of our lives.  We do that one day, one meal, and one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)