My Journey

In 2013, by age 45, I had a accumulated a 330 plus pound body and a 52” waist, and I was pre-diabetic thanks to a lifetime of eating and drinking whatever I wanted. Other than my sales career I basically had no activity and led a sedentary lifestyle.

I began to experience frequent dizzy spells and ended up in my doctor’s office. He told me I was going to quickly follow in my dad’s footsteps if I continued on with my current lifestyle. My father died 15 years earlier from Kidney failure, at the young age of 53, and from the same symptoms I had, only he was full on diabetic. He too lead a lifetime of careless/carefree eating.

My doctor asked me, “What are you going to do to save yourself?” My knee-jerk reply was “ My usual… nothing.” He wrote me a script to go get blood work, he recommended I join weight watchers. I sat their reflecting on my life and considering what choices I was left with. I skipped the blood work and went straight to my local WW center where I painfully signed on, and tearfully said goodbye to Pizza, Beer, and all of my life long consumables.

I began my journey to wellness and undoing the disaster area I spent a lifetime creating. This was my first leap of faith…

Here is a timeline of events from my journey…

My first step I took was the trip from my doctor’s office(Dr. Renaldo Gutierez) to join a weight loss program. I thought I had to give up everything. It brought me to tears! I was wrong!

My group met every Sunday morning and I attended religiously, and it opened my eyes about what I had been consuming all these years and helped me to cultivate the idea of “making good decisions” about what I eat. My children came with me from time to time for moral support.

They are the best reason for change! I joined in May of 2013…

In the last 5 plus years I have walked well over 16,000 miles(a distance greater than walking from the North Pole to the South Pole). I had been walking several times a week since I began at WW, but once I added daily walking routines in September of 2014. I went from losing about a pound a week to about 3 pounds per week. The results were staggering and undeniable. I was lucky to be very fat and therefore a small added change reaped huge results!

I purchased my first Fitbit on August 25, 2014 and I haven’t stopped walking and wearing it. It helps me to achieve my daily walking goal, and it reminds me to be mindful of activity. I also received badges from Fitbit as I steadily amassed my 16,000 plus miles, one day at a time, one walk at a time, one step at a time. One good decision at a time.

IN July of 2014 I started a Facebook page called “We Walk Daily” formerly “Walk Watchers!” This bright idea came from my love Laura, who pointed out to me that it would be a great way to document my journey and to help me stay mindful about activity. It was genius and I am very thankful.

I discovered that others were benefitting from my new found energy and it was something I wanted to share. All of a sudden my friends, family, customers, coworkers, and viewers started walking routines and were getting results. A synergy was created! I had discovered the recipe for ice cubes and I was sharing it with the world!!! I found an easy way to lose big weight and keep it off forever!

I Was so pleased with my results and in about a year and a half I had lost 100 lbs… Pictured here with my two group leaders who guided me to my success. I am very thankful for Eileen, Nina, and my current leader Denise. In my opinion, the meetings are magical. They are a weekly necessary restart. WW awarded me with all this great hardware and I cherish these charms as they are documentation of my journey. Also pictured below are the folks from my meeting that I walk with every Sunday at 8 Am before the class. We all help each other. I love these folks!

I started organizing group walks and it was moderately successful.  The people that joined me had a great time and It is definitely better to walk and talk…