My "Why"

Most of you are aware of my recent weight loss.  The program I've used for this is Optavia.  You may have read of the weight loss of Buddy Valastro, "Cake Boss".  

It's the same program he has attributed to his weight loss.   The program talks about finding your "why" or your motivation to go through the program itself.  My why, started with neck pain.    Nevermind the Then/Now being backwards for him 😁

In Early February, my neck started making a grinding noise near C1/C2 and my Occiput anytime I turned left or right. While, it was annoying it wasn’t painful. However, as time went on, the neck became painful. Perhaps because I was always turning my head to see if the grinding had stopped…I went and saw my Doctor to make sure an alien hadn’t implanted some torture device. They found that I have arthritis in C1-C7 (entire neck), mild stenosis, and reversed curvature of spine. 

Basically, the normal curve of my neck is gone, which results in a extra stress placed on C6/C7, which then can make it's way up through the entire cervical region.  While,  I'm young for this diagnosis, a HUGE cranium ("It's like an Orange on a toothpick") and years of leaning forward while performing massage are most likely the culprits.  

The worst of the neck pain came in March when things became so severe I couldn't turn my head to the left.  After four days work missed, I knew I needed to make a change.   As a nurse and massage therapist, I realized the weight in my lumbar region was affecting my cervical area.  For any of you who aren't aware, your cervical and lumbar curves are symmetrical, and due to gravity they affect each other.  If your lumbar curve is out of center, your cervical has to counteract to maintain balance. 

Most of my weight was stored in my lumbar area aka "tummy".  My "why" was to fix this.  

When I first started my job at Kaiser Permanente as an Advice Nurse, I weighed 202. A year of working around the clock, poor eating habits, and lack of exercise left me at the heaviest I have been. I was sick often, and my legs would start to hurt severely in the calf anytime I tried to walk fast (20 minute mile). 

Within 6 months of switching jobs, and riding my bike again, I was down to 185. This was Summer and fall of 2015. I lived the next 3 years, on a roller coaster between Spring/Summer/Fall and Winter between 178-180 and 190 respectively. This was despite riding my bike over 28 hours and 517 miles in one month. 

My feet hurt when I was standing, and I couldn’t run more than ½ mile without stopping due to pain. I could walk long distances, but my feet would hurt at night, and I would walk like a stiff, old(er) man after doing so (ie: Hours at a local amusement park). I just assumed that age had taken a toll, and this was where I would live. I ate like SHIT though! I just didn’t realize how bad it was until I decided in early May to embark the Optavia/Medifast diet.   Now, I know my coach would disagree, but the knowledge I learned can be done without doing OPTAVIA!. There are lots of diets that can be successful. What was nice about mine, was it was easy, and my laziness, or efficiency as I call it, could thrive on this plan. The weight has FLOWN off! I’m currently between 155-159, and have been off plan going on three weeks now. Now, I know if I go back to eating the way I did, the weight will come back on. However, I now drive Sarah crazy as I track all my calories and consumption. This new way of life, isn’t easy! The diet part was the easiest part. Now, being off and micromanaging everything that goes into my body takes an hour of work each day in food prep and documenting my intake. IT IS WORTH IT THOUGH! 

A weird, and unexpected thing happened during the first couple weeks of the plan.  While my neck was at it's worst, I was put on Prednisone, which naturally raises blood sugar levels in your blood.  Another "why" was having a blood glucose level well over 200 while on Prednisone.  My blood sugar for the past four years has averaged 5.9 for my Hemoglobin A1C which equals an average of about 126.  Normal range is 70-110, with pre-diabetes being 110-140.  Within two weeks of being on plan, my blood sugar levels were never above 100.  At the same time, the pain in my feet improved dramatically.  I could actually start to run while I was on plan up to 2 miles without significant pain.  I had given up on running due to years of pain, and had accepted that plantar fasciitis was just my new normal.  

My "why" started with my neck,  but has changed into enjoying life.  I used to joke with Sarah that it was her to job to "knock" me off when I turned 60 due to how I felt my health deteriorating.  The plan was for her to hit me over the head, and leave a T-bone steak around me.  Demented I know, but...

My "why" has changed to enjoying life in its fullest with my family!  Including four hour concerts, where not only was I able to maintain standing up without significant pain, I was able to hold Naomi up.  My back used to make this nearly impossible.  Now being at a health weight, I'm able to do so many things that I thought would be impossible again.  

Concert pick- Sarah has better pictures, but this will have to do :)

Another "why" has become a goal to keep up with the women above.  When I married Sarah we were frequently running together.  I promised to remain her "eternal running mate".  Something my body, and life choices hadn't enabled me to do.  While we were dating, we ran our first marathon together.  It was my last.  Sarah has gone on to run an additional 20 marathons/ultra-marathons since then.  I've made the goal to run my 2nd this November!  While I know keeping up with her is far-fetched, to keep my promise to her has become another "why".  

My final "why", is teaching Naomi proper nutrition.  Before, I had no clue what this meant for my own body.  I'll write more about many of the nutrition facts I've learned along the way, but I look forward to sharing "cheese"/tofu with fish and rice with her.  I hope to use what I've learned to teach her "healthy habits" that allow her to thrive, and from making the mistakes her Father made for 38 years.