Charity Can Feed the Soul

I spend a lot of time obsessing about food.  What should I eat?  How much should I eat?  Ooh, is that a brownie?  But I know in my heart there are many more important things that sustain a person than just crunchy snacks and creamy dishes.  That's why I volunteer on a regular basis.  Today was a day of volunteering for events that our radio group was sponsoring.

This morning I got an emergency call at 6:20, one of our talents was passing a kidney stone and could I fill in for her at the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.  Of course.  It meant rearranging my day, but it was important to make sure LITE 104.1 followed through on our commitment.  Besides, I had never had a chance to go to the event, so it was a perfect excuse.

It was sunny, windy and pink.  Everyone was in fine spirits despite being blown around.  As I emceed I was able to hear women tell about their fight against breast cancer.  I met people in remission and those still on the battle field.  I met family members who were walking for those that had lost.  And one woman that was walking simply because it could be her someday.  It warmed me to see all of the passion and love.

Then I was on the the Mercy/YMCA Healthy Living Center.  It was their Grand Opening to promote the fact that they are now under the same roof.  I worked the registration table and it was a great opportunity to feel unity.  Many people walked in that were just as overweight as I am, many who were even more so.  It made me very happy - believe me, just walking in that door for a tour is a big step.  I hope that they all decide to try their version of what I am doing, getting healthy.

Then I snuck in a 45 minute workout. :)  Showered and it was off to event three...

The Youth Emergency Services and Shelter Derby Duck Race.  This event is always so much fun.  YESS is all about trying to keep family's together, so they have a family festival as they sell the final ducks and then dump them into the lake.  Thousands of kids ran under the watchful eye of their unique family.  Some with their biological parents.  Some in single parent families.  Some adopted or in foster care.  Some with aunts or uncles, others with grandparents.  And some with all of the above.  It was a wonderful reminder that family is who you love, not just the people you were born to.

I emceed with Dan Winters from TV-13, he's great.  Like me, he is able to roll through the punches, which is important with an event this size.  In the end, everything went off without a hitch.  The biggest highlight?  The guy whose duck crossed the finish line first and won $10,000, donated the money back to YESS - another heartwarming, goose bump inducing moment for my day.

It was a great day and I was so busy, that after I quickly ate a small omelet while the walkers were on the path for Making Strides, I wasn't hungry again until late afternoon.  Which proves, charity can feed the soul.

Yours in Health,
Kate

Support - It's More than just a Sports Bra

While a great sports bra is imperative for any big woman starting to work out, there is something more important - people around you willing to help or at the very least, not get in the way.

When I dropped my weight last time my family struggled to understand and relate.  By the time I was at my lowest weight they were whispering about anorexia - 150 pounds at 5' 4" is not dangerously thin.

My co-workers had no intention of sabotaging me, but man they are all great bakers and cooks!

This time, something is in the air and I am about to benefit from it.  My mom and step-dad are working out.  My brothers and sister-in-law all have intentions to be healthier in 2010.  And more than half of my workplace is doing something to get in shape and/or be healthier.  Combine that with the unwavering support of my healthy-cooking roomie Lori and I think this will be easier.

Yet 'easy' is a relative word when it comes to losing substantial weight and being healthier.  Really I am hoping for 'consistent' and 'ongoing', because 'easy' is also a cookie.

Yours in health,
Kate

I've Been Playing a Game of Chicken

I am a chicken and I was waiting to see which would blink first - me or the street day for Intuition Magazine - funny how time doesn't move.  The magazine is on the street today and I am already getting feedback.  All positive, but most stunned.  No one can quite believe how honest I was or how far I have fallen.  I have spent a month mentally preparing and I still don't think it was enough.  But I will survive and thrive by being completely honest.

Now that the magazine is out there (I will have a list of locations for you later in the week), it's time to be honest every day.  Or at least as often as I can find 15-20 minutes to share my journey.

The last month has been spent on vacation at Disney World the most magical and calorie-laden place on earth; dealing with multiple snow storms (that's a real time suck in radio) and facing down a new injury to my knee.  It has all added up to not a micron of weight lost or a workout done.

Yet, today I sit here typing one week cookie free.  I have added vegetables and fruit back into my diet.  I am paying attention to fiber and water again.  I have set-up my workout area at home.  I am ready again.

Tonight will be my first modified workout ever.  I have done my therapy exercises, walked some and lifted a few hands weights since my surgery, but now I am again injured. 

Trying to keep up with my family's swift walking at Disney at done something to my knee again - yes, same knee - and it makes me sick.  By day three of our trip I was riding one of those motorized scooters, it was humiliating.  In my head I heard people saying, "Here is this morbidly obese woman riding a scooter, must be too lazy to walk."  In reality, yes a few people started, but nobody verbalized their thoughts.

Anyway, I think this injury is a stretched ACL.  My knee is moving side to side and something catches.  I have yet to go to the doctor, I keep thinking rest will make a difference and it does to some extent.  That's why I will be doing a modified workout regime.

I will be doing hand weights while sitting down and work my core on my back.  I will give it another couple of weeks and if my knee isn't better, so I can walk or stationary bike, I will go to a doc.

Well, that's a lot to share in one post, hope I didn't overwhelm you. :)

Yours in health,
Kate

Biggest Loser Update

Up to this point I have been encouraging everyone else while eating cookies. This week I took the reins and am back in the saddle. (My love of horse is showing.)

With eating right and exercising back into the daily habits category I was ready for today's weigh-in.

I ended up with a 2.6 pound loss. That's not bad. The super-control-freak in me wants more.

So I will have to work harder.

Everyone in the familly is doing well. But Gordon is kicking all our asses. LOL. That's to be expected, he's even more competitive than me.

Yours in fitness, Kate

Biggest Loser Update

My family is kicking ass in the competition. I am unbelievably proud of them.

Every one of them is making a great effort and losing weight. I have gained 5 pounds in the first two weeks of competition.

Yes, only I can challenge my family to a contest and then go out of my way to lose. But honestly, it has been the stress eating. Every little thing sets it off. The cancer scare, work situations, etc. And in the end, it's all a crap. I should be able to control my eating, I did it before.

Meanwhile, I have had to buy bigger clothes and currently tip the scale at 206. It's pathetic. I have to find an answer to this. I keep thinking I will find a few hours here or there to actually sit down and think it through. I have to make that happen or it may only get worse.

Yours in transition, Kate

Old Junk and New Resolve

Yesterday it looked like Donutland and a candy store exploded on the break room table. I gave in to all of my worst urges and ate plenty of it. However, it was with full knowledge that tomorrow is H-Day - Health Day.

It's back to best practices - 1. Eat better. 2. Exercise. 3. Think positively.

The breakdown:

1. I will have Lori's support and with the whole family doing the Biggest Loser contest, I will have help there too. Plus, I have been pretty public with this contest at work - I am hoping people will call me on it if they see me grazing at that evil back table.

2. I am going to start back up slowly at home. Once I have committed and done it on my own for a couple of weeks, I am going back to the gym. I am also adding trainer Traci back into the mix. With my knee being the way it is, I am struggling with what to do. I know swimming is an option, but it is also a pain in the butt. I tried getting a cap to keep my hair dry, but it doesn't work. I will just have to suck it up at some point or just swim on weekends when I have more time to get cleaned up. Another big problem I face there is I have grown out of my swim suit, so that may wait.

If anyone has cardio ideas that don't involve using my knee or getting wet, let me know.

3. This is the one I struggled with, even when I was in full-on healthy mode. Once you have been obese, you always feel like the fat girl. When you stagnate in the weight loss process, you beat yourself up. If you falter and overeat or, in my case, binge - you mentally tailspin. When I got near my goal weight, that finally slowed. But as my weight has skyrocketed, the mean words have come streaming back in.

I need to return the phrases - "I can do this", "That's great", "Wow" and "Good for me" to my arsenal of self-talk. It's funny, in every other area of my life I brag of being stubborn. I can make people crazy at times as I attempt things because I can. I have recently taken to reassuring family and friends that even if I have cancer, "I am too stubborn to go anywhere" - as in, I have no intention of dying.

I should be just as stubborn in this effort. Because obesity is just as life threatening as cancer, it just takes longer to kill you.

So, here goes. I will do this. I will be stubborn. I will win. I am resolved.

Resolutely yours, Kate

Happy New Year

I worked until 1 this morning and then went straight home to bed. At 9:45 the phone rang, it was my mom. She was wishing me a Happy New Year and plotting for the Biggest Loser contest, which starts on Sunday.

That was a good way to wake up, not that I couldn't have slept for a while longer. But I was glad to know my folks are getting excited. If we can maintain that through the first 45 days of the contest, the exercise and eating right will be habits and the other four and a half months should be a breeze. So to speak.

Right now I am at my Dad's waiting for him to get home from the hospital. I would like to note that it's obvious I got his knees. Anyway, I am here delivering the ice cream he brought for Christmas, of which there was plenty left and to help wrangle dogs. The ice cream had to leave my world.

I don't know if you've ever had major surgery, but dogs go ape when you get home after a few days. Add in the pain you are in and well, it's too much fun.

I think I heard the car door, better run.

Happy New Year, Kate

New Yous Eve

This is the night we revel in the year past and plan for the year ahead. If we don't down too much champagne, sometimes we even recall those resolutions. Sometimes, if the planets align and the willpower steels, we will actually follow through.

The past:

2008 was a year of the highs and the middling lows. Nothing spectacular happened, nothing disastrous happened. It was just a year.

The highs included my family, the front end of the year with my health, my accomplishments with flood coverage and not having breast cancer.

The latter half of the year was a bit of a mess.

The dating life died, the weight came back on, work stressed me to the max, my knee injury ended my daily workouts and I am again facing the possibility of cancer.

The future:

2009 will be better. I will be better.

Even if the tumor in my humerus is cancer, I will beat it. I am stubborn and strong, stronger than cancer.

I'll take the weight off again. I will win the Biggest Loser contest in my family and spend the kitty on fabulous new clothes or a long overdue weekend away.

I will make work work for me.

I am going to be more me in 2009. That will probably mean dating will end. I'm only half kidding. I put men off. I don't know if it's simply a case of I have bigger balls than they do or what. But they don't even bother approaching me. Oh well, there loss. (Now I will work on meaning that.)

Find more ways to spend time with Caelen. He is my heart. He rocks. I love him.

Those aren't really resolutions, those are actualities. My resolutions are much more mundane and less life altering - write more paper notes, get out of the state (even for just two days), keep my car cleaner, clean the house once a week (I think there is a theme), wear more color.

So here's to you and whatever your New Yous Resolutions are - may you stand strong against the past and forge ahead to an amazing 2009.

Yours in transition, Kate

What was that about time?

Another week gone and I haven't posted. I also haven't exercised and I have eaten total crap.

This will all be over soon. I have challenged my family to a "Biggest Loser"-like contest in January. I will not lose at something that was my idea. I refuse.

However, I have to figure out how to do it. I am still banned from running and even biking is killing my knee. There is no decision on surgery because I have other things going on.

That brings me to my shoulder. I went to the orthopedist on Christmas Eve and I am now being referred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The doctor says while he thinks it (a tumor in my humerus) is probably benign, he doesn't really see many tumors in adults, in fact maybe one a year. So, he is sending me to someone who specializes in orthopedic oncologist - a doctor who specializes in bone cancer.

My doc is nervous because adults don't usually just suddenly get a tumor. This kind of growth usually happens in kids from 3-15, while they are still growing and producing bone. Adults tend to lose bone mass. I wonder if this will all lead to an admonishment regarding my perverse love of milk?

Mayo will contact me probably next week. I will keep you updated - I swear. No really, I will post. (I know promises, promises.)

Yours in transition, Kate

Sunday Inspiration - Shawn Johnson and her Parents

She's 16 years old. She's 4' 9" and weighs about 90 pounds. She's intelligent, determined, friendly and has a smile so bright she's started a worldwide fire. She is Shawn Johnson winner of one gold and three silver medals at the Beijing Olympics. She also happens to live in my metro area.

I live just off downtown Des Moines and Shawn lives in West Des Moines in a house her father built, not as a contractor, but with his own hands. Her parents, Doug and Teri, have done an amazing job. While Shawn is indeed an elite athlete, one of the best in the world, she is also just an Iowa teen.

With her parents guidance Shawn has trained full-time to be an Olympic star, while keeping her eye on graduating from high school and having as normal a life as possible. Doug and Teri have never pressured Shawn to be a star sports figure, just that if you are going to commit to something, follow through. On the other hand, if she lost her passion, they didn't want her to feel pressure to keep performing - it's all been up to her. In a world where you hear horror stories about 'stage parents' and kids being pushed to illness while training to act, play sports or dance, Doug and Teri have used their Iowa values to help Shawn have balance.

I have had the pleasure of interviewing Shawn, Doug and Teri a couple of times. Each time I was moved and inspired by their love. They are their own team, just like a family should be. And Shawn is clear on how much she is loved and I believe that is why she has an edge over so many athletes.

So, congratulations to Shawn on winning in Beijing! And to Doug and Teri for winning the ultimate - the award for raising a kind, happy, well-adjusted teen. (Oh, and she just happens to be a world class athlete too.)

Yours in fitness, Kate

A little braggin' - About my family

Family notes of the day that make me feel so lucky:

- I have noted before that my sister-in-law Annette is awesome. Today she was awesome in the race I was supposed to run - the AIDS Run/Walk. She finished in 34:05! That's despite the miserable and yes - snowy! conditions at race time. Congratulations Net!

- My nephew is brilliant. I know, I have said this before (and will again and again). But yesterday we were able to hang out for the afternoon and then go to a movie. We went to Barnes & Noble and had a treat and read books. He read half, I read half. Then we went to see "Nim's Island" - it was so much fun! About five minutes into the movie Caelen recognized that the island had a volcano on it. He leans over and says, "Auntie, is that a volcano?" "Yep." "It's going to erupt." "I don't know baby, I haven't seen the movie." "No, Auntie it is, you'll see." LOL. He hadn't read the book yet, or seen the film. But he had already deduced that if they were making a point of having a volcano, at some point it would blow. You see - brilliant!

Side review: I highly recommend the movie. It is a great adventure for kids and there were only three kind of scary parts. My 4.5 year old nephew weathered them just fine. The part that bothered him most is when the dad disappeared at sea. But the film's (and book's) theme of "Be the hero of your own story", really resonated with me. Abigail Breslin is wonderful, quite the actress already. Jodie Foster is so funny, I love when she does comedy, "Maverick" is one of my favorite westerns because of her. And Gerard Butler is dead sexy! It doesn't matter whether he is the adventurer or the amazing dad trying to return to his daughter, he is so handsome and fun. It's just a bonus that he can act!

- My mom and step-dad. Parents can drive you crazy, they're family, it's there job. But mine have been very supportive during this whole journey of mine so far. Today they were supportive of my job and came to see me at a remote at the Boomer Expo. Then they took me to lunch at Lucca. I am very lucky.

There you go, it's blatant, I am proud and I love them (and all of the others) very much and that's one of those good for my mental health kind of things.

Yours in (mental) health, Kate