My Journey Recapped

Someone asked my about my success with WW today and I replied with the following:

I'm not sure what my success is -- but if I had to say it's a combination of being very aware of my family history, determination to do it this time, and a big part is the support on the boards.  I have set physical activity goals as I have gone on, and that has helped as well.  <Warning: The rest of this is going to get wordy, but I'm on a roll now and I guess I really need to get this on paper.> 

A little bit of my family history -- my Dad was a cancer survivor of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and renal cell carcinoma.  In 2001, he had a brain-stem stroke and was hospitalized for 5 months before being moved to a nursing home.  He finally was able to come home in November 2002.  Because of the stroke, Daddy had to have a trach, and because of the trach, somebody from the family stayed with him 24/7 with very few exceptions.  Daddy couldn't call for help if needed, and didn't always know when he needed assistance.  As a result, I spent a lot of time "vegging" in his room, or eating really poorly because I brought Mom dinner almost every night (Mom spent the majority of the time with Dad with me relieving her a couple of nights a week - I was working full-time as well). 

In 2002, my youngest sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through a double mastectomy, chemo and radiation. With all those factors and once Daddy came home, I decided that I had to do something.  Also, I had a young niece that I wanted to be able to play with and didn't want her to remember Aunt Maggie as someone who couldn't do anything.  I was at a near high in my weight and had almost no exercise in almost 2 years from daddy-sitting.  So on January 6, 2003, I started journaling (I actually started counting points the following week -- one step at a time) and walking on the treadmill.  I could barely do 1 mile at about 2 mph.  But I wanted to go to Disney World with my sister and her family, and she told me to be able to go with them, I had to be able to walk 3 miles over a day.  So that was my first goal, to be able to walk 3 miles and enjoy myself at Disney World.