I started making positive changes to regain my fitness, lose weight, and eat better back in March of 2009. Well, it's 1 year and 2 months later and I've lost 62 pounds, and have regained my fitness and definitely am eating better. As of today, I weigh 158 with a BMI of 24.7 (I'm 5' 7").
I ran into a bit of a roadblock after the first 30 pounds as I was trying to be physically active in all of the ways I was used to when I was younger. I got back into hiking, but found my aerobic capacity to be limited, and my knees were screaming at me (mostly when going downhill), which wasn't any fun. I tried mountain biking again, but had a wreck due to an equipment malfunction and came close to breaking my wrist.
At this point, I decided I had better try something else that wasn't so demanding on my body. But, what? I pondered this for a month or so and thanks to an STC acquaintance and a colleague at my workplace, I was reminded of swimming and the proverbial light bulb went on.
I swam competitively in high school and have been a recreational swimmer all of my life, and swimming is something I absolutely love, but for some odd reason, I hadn't even considered getting back into it seriously. Well, that has definitely changed. I joined Life Time Fitness within a week or so of my revelation, joined a Masters swimming group and haven't looked back. I lost another 32 pounds and I don't think I'm done. My body feels so great -- so great in fact that I feel like I'm 35 again! Parts of me look much younger, but it's going to take some time for my skin to catch up in a few places. :) Here's a before and after:
Mt. Graham, AZ in September of 2009 after losing 30 pounds and today, another 32 pounds lighter and much, much fitter!
