Hold on Tight...

I am struggling with my weight this week. Not sure what's going on. I have been on track 99 % of the week. I went to a football game Saturday where I ate off track once but not horribly. I got on the scales and the last two days I show a gain of 2 pounds. Which for me is BIG. I hope it wasn't that silly piece of pizza I ate at the game. More than likely it is the lack of exercise I am getting due to my foot.

So I got on the bike this morning and rode 15 minutes. Man I am out of shape. I was up to 17 miles before my injury now it was a strain to do 3 miles. I know I am pushing myself but I have to. I don't want to get too comfortable in not exercising and revert back to the old me. It's like not going to church week after week. Pretty soon you go inactive.

Riding the bike today was hard and a little painful but necessary I thought. Just don't want to cause more pain to my already injured foot. So I stopped when it no longer was comfortable.

Surgery is this Monday. Recovery is scaring me with the possibilities of extra food being bought into the home from caring neighbors. That's what our church members are famous for, service. They are planning to have meals brought in for 2 weeks. (which includes desserts)

I will need some extra will power the next few weeks. For me it's easy to stay on track when the temptation is not there. My family is so good that way. When they want something, like a dessert, they do it out of my view. I love them for that.

The recovery involves a lot of sitting with my foot in the air. Now that Clay has my computer hooked to my big screen TV I can read my blogs and do my facebook. I was fearing the withdrawal symptoms not having access to my computer for those weeks. Hubby came through with a great plan. Life is good there!

I am NOT going to use this time as an excuse to cave and say the hell with it. I have come way too far for that. I will be utilizing a great deal of will power and support from my blogs and family.

Until then pray for my surgeon, a speedy recovery and the extra strength I need to stay on plan.

The best concert thus far!

I just wanted to start out by saying OH MY GOODNESS!!! Can Brad put on a show!!! The visual technology that he had blew my mind! Never have I seen such a techie concert as his! If you love country music and every get a chance to see him, I STRONGLY recommend you do. Money well spent!

As must of my followers know I bought a Mega Concert ticket package at the beginning of the summer. Well this was the closing show of the season. Brad Paisley's Water Tour was the BOMB!!!

We started the day out at a smaller stage that would be featuring 3 lesser known, but still on the radio, singers. The gates opened before Clay got off from work, so he met me there when the big acts started later that night. I took my girlfriend, Brook, who had not been to a concert in many years. So I was so happy to see her excitement to be at the show. Clay arrived with my dearest best friend and her husband. Camille & Erik had not heard Brad's music before, but were more than happy to spend the evening with us. Now that's a TRUE friend!

I hope you enjoy just a few of the shots I took of my exciting day.

Josh Thompson.

Oh yeah at the smaller stage we were on the front row. Brook had never been so close to a singer. It was so cute.
Brook made sure that NO BODY even came close to my foot or dare stand in front of me either. What a sweetie!

Easton Corbin

Steel Magnolia

They are a husband and wife team. So cute to see them sing together.

Justin Moore

Justin was a great opening act for the big stage performers. He has several hit songs and he played them all.

Darius Rucker

And you all know who this is right? Brad Baby!!!

Brad has been playing the guitar since he was 8. He can really jam with the best of them too.

BUTT shot....Oh La La!

This cute puppet was part of his show. While he was singing "Celebrity" a video was playing on the huge HD screen behind his stage. This was the puppet in the video that played Brad. After the end of the song he had the puppet come out to greet the fans.
Now for this photo. The camera is NOT zoomed. I was like 2 feet from him as he made his way through the crowd. If I hadn't been trying to get a picture I could have grabbed his butt.
The only thing separating me from Brad was a railing and a bunch of security guards. I screamed so loud that I know he heard me. Way cool.The reason he was walking right by me was that he was going to a small platform in the middle of the arena. He sang a few songs but mostly talked to the crowd. He said when he was younger he could never afford the seats close to the stage. He made a promise to himself, that if he ever made it big he would perform a few songs to the people in the cheap seats. What a sweet guy.

It would not surprise me to see him someday excepting the Entertainer of the Year award. He has my vote!

My meeting

I talked to my leader last night about the issue of the rude blog comment. She does not think it was from any one that STILL comes to the meeting. You see there have been a couple (1 mainly) that no longer goes to WW but had been coming long enough to know how I am doing the program. They left the meeting several weeks very upset with the fact that others (like me) were losing and they weren't. She mention said person might be the 1 who left it and I had that person cross my mind too. But at this point I could care less what she thinks.

If you are reading this said person guess what???

I LOST ANOTHER 1.2 POUNDS!! And those diet pills rock!...LOL

Water under the bridge. Only have 4.6 pounds to lose before I HAVE to stop losing and start maintaining.

Maintaining scares me a little but I think I will be able to do it. Scary, that I fear I wont stop losing and my body will not know how to just stay at this size. I don't fear of me gaining. Cause that is just NOT an option for me.

I love the foods I have been eating and I am never starving so to eat more just scares me. Did I mention I AM NOT NORMAL??

I will have a few more weeks to adjust my lifestyle and learn how to add more calories in my diet. Until then I will be focusing on getting my foot operated on and the long recovery. Only a week away now.

Going to see Brad Paisley tonight. No jumping for me..BooHoo!

a million THANKS!

I am so touched that words can no longer express my feelings. I had no idea that the blog world was so supportive.

Yes I have received countless comments of encouragement since I started this blog. And I have made several very very special friends, that would not have occurred any other way.

But when you write something as sad and hurtful to me as someone did, read here if you missed it, the true meaning of support comes out.

I want to thank EVERY one that took the time from their busy lives and wrote words of kindness on my behalf. I tried to go to each and everybody's blog to personally thank you. But if I miss you please expect it now.

I just noticed as of today I have 100 followers. I am speechless. I owe most of it to a newly found blogger, that I am honored to call my newest friend. Thank you Allan for your kindness, thoughtfulness and your love of blogging, to send me so many of your followers. They offered many supportive words of kindness to me in a time of need. Posting my story on your blog was very special and you will never know how much it meant to this broken heart. For you, THANK YOU! I only hope I can pay it forward.

I feel so much better today and it's ALL because of the kindness that I got from you all. I have decided that it is not worth the time or energy to dwell ONE more minute on this lonely, jealous coward that doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. (sorry I swore..sue me).

Going to my WW meeting tonight with my HEAD HELD HIGH!!! I know I am a great person who has accomplished many wonderful things in my life and will continue to do so.

So again I can not express the love I felt from my blogging pals yesterday. Hugs and kisses to you all.

idoits!

After a very long sleepless night, I decided I have to blog about this.

So right before I went to bed I checked my e-mail and found 1 that someone had left a comment on my Key to Success post. This is what "anonymous" wrote:

"How can you say WW is the program for you when you don't even follow it. You don't eat all the points, you don't even track so how can you say it is for you when you aren't following it. I'd love to know what diet pills you've been taking this whole time because it is obvious that is what you've been doing!"

Whoever it was was too chicken to log in as them so I don't know who it was. When I read it I was sad, hurt and mad so I went to my blog and removed the comment.

I felt the need to set the record straight. Hence this post. I hope none of you have had to experience rude and hurtful comments. It really is not fun. Now I find it humorous because if I was only taking diet pills I sure in the heck wouldn't be exercising and then my foot would not be injured. I sure would not have been spending $40.00 a month for the last 10 months to a program that I wasn't following. My family would be eating junk food and I would have attended more social gatherings where I could have indulged in the unhealthy foods that were there. I have missed out on a lot of things for taking those diet pills.

Here is some background about me and my dieting. All my life I have had weight issues. When I was 25 I was struck with MS and my self esteem went even lower. Not able to do much and having the MS tell me what I can and can't do was very hard for me to except. I have control issue. So with WW I have regained my control back by controlling the foods I eat.

My neighbor was going to WW and I wanted to go check it out so I went with her. I was impressed with their program and even though I was not able to exercise at the time I wanted to see if only changing my food choices would allow me to lose.

I found a lot of great information out about myself in the meetings. I knew I did not have the normal eating problems that the other members were talking about. As the doctors have told me over the years I have a big problem with my metabolism working properly. It took years for them to get the right amount of medication to stay in my body (blood stream) long enough to be effective.

The reason I say this is because for a normal dieter the points that WW have set for you are healthy. But for me I had to adjust them in order to lose weight. For me I only needed a small amount of points. It may be from the lack of any exercise or movement too. So yes I DO NOT eat the number of points that the program ask. But if I did I would have been gaining not losing. It took several weeks before I got to the right # of points for me.

As far as tracking goes. Oh I tracked religiously for the first 7 months. I could see a pattern with my day to day eating so I though I really didn't need to be a slave to a tracker. I had gotten in the habit of eating and knowing the low point foods. I was very strict and mainly ate only 1 or 2 point foods in the day.

So I did a test back in March to see if not tracking would mess me up. I did it and am still doing it. I have a brain and I keep a mental tab of my points through out the day. Again I am not saying that this will work for every one. But it is working for me.

I have not missed any of my meetings, binged or even fell off the wagon for a year now. I have exercised to the point of hurting myself and in spite of my physical challenges I continue to exercise.

This is my new life and I love it and LIVE it! Any NO NO NO I am NOT taking any thing other then my prescribed medication. So I am sorry if there are those out there that are struggling and feel the need to lash out on me and my success in hopes to make themselves feel better.

I know that I am doing this without pills and my REAL friends know it too. So to all those others that think otherwise. You can KISS my BUTT!

Keep your jealous self off my blog. I have set my blog to only allow registered bloggers to leave comments now. No more chicken shit comments. This is all about accountability right? So be accountable to your comments.

Thinking I may speak up at my meeting to set this person, who ever it is, straight. I am 99% sure they are in my meeting. It is just not my style to let it go. Should I say something or have my leader say something?

I am very out spoken and confrontational. But I can be very caring, loving and understanding too. I am so confused on what to do.

I will be back...

Just wanted to thank my readers for your kind words and to update you. You might have noticed I haven't been around lately. I am experiencing a lot of pain in my foot when I sit at the computer. So not having a laptop, it makes it almost impossible to blog. I (my family) will be checking in once a week for the next few months. I will have them read me your blog. Not sure if I can get them to comment for me though:(

I will miss you and hopefully I can figure out a way to blog soon.

Until then I WILL BE THINKING OF YOU.

Surgery is coming up on OCT 4th. Then a VERY long and painful recovery.

The Key to My Success.

I made it!!!

The Key to My Success Award. I am now a free WW lifetime member!

My WW leader Kris at the meeting

My number 1 supporter!

Just a handful of my supporting friends & family that came to see me get my award.

This was a GREAT night for me. I have been waiting for this day for a long time. I lost 2.6 pounds this week and plan on continuing til I reach the low end of the BMI chart. So 6 more, then I will STOP. My total loss at the time of my lifetime award is 64.8. I still can't believe this is ME. I know I have a lot of adjustments to do mentally now but I can do that too.

WW IS the program for me!!!

I know I could not have done this without a supportive family and such awesome friends. I spoke highly of my blog followers at the meeting after I was presented the charm. I told the class that "if they haven't already and have the time, they need to start a blog and get all the support you can. Cause without that it would not have been as easy to get to this point." So THANK YOU ALL!

Life is GREAT, JUST KEEP SWIMMING!!!



Small steps make BIG results!
Never GIVE UP!!!

Who Knew????

Well I checked my body fat today . The last time I checked it was 4 months ago. I have been noticing that the hanging skin in the inside of my thighs was getting smaller. So I was hoping that the pool exercises had something to do with that. I wanted to see if I was building muscle so hence the body fat check.

Well can I have a DRUM ROLL please?

Here's some background to set the stage. 4 months ago: I was really not happy that even at the smaller size I was still in the last category OBESE, so I didn't want to check it every month. Too depressing. ((sniff)) I thought with all the exercises I should have a change in the %. So I checked today.

I am DOWN 5% since the last time.

But what I find even funnier is I am STILL considered OVER WEIGHT but just by 1%...LOL Well at least I am no longer Obese.. I'll take it. Here's the chart I found that I used.

I KNOW its only a number on a chart and I should only focus on HOW I feel but just saying...((with a BIG smile)) Who knew that I could gain muscle being in a wheelchair with MS???

NOT ME, THAT'S FOR SURE! Until now!

Bubble wrap anyone?

NO I HAVE NOT HAD SURGERY YET!

Actually this is a little wrap in comparison to Saturday's. I know its a long post, so you don't have to read it. Just another day in my crazy life!
Ok here's the ugly story. Besides the fact that I have been dealing with this foot since May. I injured it even more Saturday at the football game.

It was a very hot day at the game and I needed some ice for my foot so Clay went and got me a cup of ice and I put it in a Ziplock baggie. I wanted to be able to use my hands as our team was making some killer moves. So I was wondering if 1st aid would have something to help hold the baggie on.

At 1/2 time Clay went to get more ice which was at the opposite end of the stadium as I attempted to get out of the sun. As I was in the hallway I thought I would just go to get that wrap. That's where the DRAMA began!

The stadium holds 45,000 crazy UTE fans. And I think they were ALL in that hallway trying to get out of the sun, go potty, and get something to eat, etc. Once I was in the crowd (I was in my electric wheelchair), I was stuck! I had to continue to go all the way to the other end of the stadium to the 1st aid room. No turning back now.

I had my bad foot across my knee (lap) with the melting ice baggie on it. The crowd was not very interested that I wanted to get past, until a few loud mouth guys started yelling for then to MOVE! I was a bit embarrassed but thankful at the same time. Just when I thought I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. (pardon the pun) A REALLY drunk man lost his balance and fell in my lap pushing my bad foot backward with his hand as he tried to catch himself. He ended up IN my lap. I screamed like I had been shot by a gun and immediately started crying hard.

The kids that were assisting me through the crowd were like "What did you do to her." As a normal reflex, I punched him as hard as I could in the middle of his back and screamed for him to get the HELL off me! He was so out of it I am sure he never even felt it but I bet the next morning he was like "Hey where did this BIG bruise in the middle of my back come from?" The kids were laughing at the fact that I just kicked his butt and I was the one injured...LOL

To make a long story short I had the cops come to my aide. See as the crowd was yelling for the boneheads to move so I could get by, the cops thought they were fighting. So the police got me to the 1st aid room. Funny how fast people move when they see a police officer with their clubs and guns.

I spent the next 30 minutes being seen by the paramedics and then I returned back to my seat. Clay saw the HUGE ice packs and wrap on my foot that the 1st aid did for me and was like "What the heck happened? I can't take you anywhere." I told him the whole ugly story and he felt bad that I was hurt but never even considered if I needed to leave the game. I know how much the games mean to him so I toughed it out and never complained. I stayed the second half in my chair not able to jump but I cheered like mad. Our team won and took the record in our conference for the most consecutive home game wins! 19 WOW!!!

Was it worth it? Well not really, but I am glad that I got to see my team beat the record. Now that's some team spirit there!

I just hope there isn't new damage that will jam up my surgery in 3 weeks. Hence the big foot wrap. Trying to get it better. The one at the game was like 2 times this size. It was over kill! It doesn't make a very pretty shoe with a skirt either. Church was interesting...

It does feel a little better today and I was able to go to the gym this morning; where I swam 1/2 mile and did my 500 leg/tummy crunches. It felt good to get back in the water.

Clay thinks I should not be allowed to leave the house without being fully covered in bubble wrap. What do you think?

FYI

My WW leader did a post about me on her blog. It is a tribute for reaching my goal weight. Here is a link to her post about me. It's just a couple before and after photos. Its short and sweet.
Thank you Kris.

alan jackson- Where were you september 11th

I love this video and I love Alan too. This is for the ones who lost their loved ones 9 years ago today. You are missed and loved!

Weigh In

As most of you know, I have been under the weather. I have still been forcing myself to go to water aerobics 3 days a week. Yesterday I did 1 hour of aerobics, where we jogged a mile, then stayed and swam (snorkel & mask) 2000 feet and did 300 stomach crunches. Not sure but I think that the aerobics has actually made the pain worse. Swimming and crunches don't hurt but the class exercises do. I think the water resistance on my foot is too much and I am feeling it in the evenings. OUCH! Surgery is still on the schedule for Oct 4th. My good foot is getting better:)

Anyway, that's not what this post is about. I had a really hard time with STRESS at my weigh in's, til I changed my goal weight magic number. So after I met the number, I thought I would have less stress. WRONG! Now every Thursday night I try to find the lightest weighing clothes to wear. I still want to loss another 10 pounds below my WW goal weight. I have even gone as far as to take ALL my jewelry of to get that extra .2 pounds.

Well not tonight! With the weather getting cooler and wanting to remove that extra stress. I decided what the heck! I am sick to death of wearing the same ugly clothes every time. WHY did I get these cute clothes if I am not going to wear them. So I put on my heavy LONG jeans and off to the meeting I went. With my mind set to having a BIG gain! Even had a bet with Clay that it would be like 5 lbs.

See last Thursday was the UTE football game, so I weighed in that morning. (which I always weigh less in the mornings, DUH!) So let me see how many excuses I can come up with to my mental weight gain. 1..muscle from swimming, 2..water from the salty popcorn every night, 3...the pizza I ate at the game, 4..night vs day; I was weighing in, 5..not eating enough, cause I have been laid up, 6..wearing heavy clothes, 7..not tracking, etc... YOU GET THE PICTURE!

In my mind I thought I blew it this week, so I might as well go out in style! Well I was up, but only by 1.6 pounds. My leader said with the jeans, and the time of day the weigh in was compared to last week, that I more than likely DID NOT gain this week. REALLY??? Bring on the PIZZA!

Oh well at least I can wear my cute clothes now on Thursday nights and feel good doing it! We have another home game this Saturday afternoon. I will be packing and sneaking some healthy food in, as I root for my UTAH UTES!!
GO UTES!!!

Wheelchair-1 Lesia-0

Kayla handed me the keyboard (good thing it's wireless.) I just wanted to let you know that my "good" foot was injured doing water aerobics. I torn or pulled some ligaments, after trying to stop a bad Charlie Horse in the arch of my foot. That one is slowly getting better.

But then I had a bad accident with my electric (very powerful)wheelchair and my "bad" foot. Here's the ugly story, the best way I know how to explain it:

I was trying to open a bathroom door at a store. I had my leg at an angle as to not to hit my "bad" foot. Going in, I smashed my "bad" foot leg between the outside of the wheel of the chair and the door jam. And in the process of trying to maneuver my chair, away from the jam, I run over my "bad" foot. It was turned inward and twisted upward, as I was running over it. Now that took some major talent! Needless to say I hurt it's pretty bad. I SCREAMED very loud and swore like a sailor! The employees of the store were speechless. Good thing Kayla was there to comfort me and wipe away the tears. She thought I broke it by the way the foot looked after I got free from the door. But I knew it wasn't broke just hurt badly.

If you didn't know I have Tarsal Tunnel on my "bad" foot. I have surgery scheduled for Oct 4th, unless my "good" foot can't handle all my weight. If not I will be canceling the surgery (no weight baring on it after makes it hard with a bad "good" foot.)

I was nervous enough not being able to have weight on my "bad" foot after surgery for 3 weeks, but NOW with an injured "good" foot; I am way stressed. The timing stinks!

So now you know... ARE YOU SO CONFUSED???

Injuries

Hey, I'm Kayla, Lesia's daughter. My mom has injured both of her feet and can't blog. She asked me to wright this to let you know she wont be on for a while. She needs to keep both of her feet up and on ice. She'll miss you but, will be back when she feels better.
She hopes you wont wright anything interesting of funny until she returns. Thanks, Kayla.

P.S. I will be reading your blogs to my mom. Look for a "Thumbs up!" of a "Smile."

Hip Hip Horray!

Yesterday was a Great day! My Utah Ute football team won their season opener, in a nail biting game, by a field goal in over time. (27-24) That makes 17 STRAIGHT HOME WINS. 1 more and we BEAT the conference record for home wins! We have the best fans at the game! I screamed and jumped and enjoyed ALL my TD kisses. But not only was that a winner but so was my WI.

I was down another 1.4 pounds this week. At this stage of the game, that is a BIG loss. 2 more weeks and then I will be a FREE member! I have lost 63.4 pounds now. I think when I reach 70 total, I will start my maintenance program. That will put me at 140 pounds. My WW leaders are having fits with my logic, but it's my body and I am the best judge of it. I will listen to them and as long as I am feeling healthy, eating a balanced diet and are within my BMI guidelines. They just need to RELAX and remember I am a "SPECIAL" member.

Just got back from the pool and did my water aerobics plus 2 more hours of laps and lower ab exercises. Loving this gym. But everything will come to a sudden stop Oct 4th when I will be having foot surgery. But as soon as I get the green light from the Dr. I will be back in the game!

Have a great Labor Day everybody!

It's game day!

I wanted to share some happy memories of our Utah spirit! Hope you like them too. GO UTES!!!!

This was a couple years ago. But We fly our flag proudly!

Getting my game face on..LOLYep this would be me after a great play!

We got to meet the famous Ute quarterback, Brian Johnson.My nails actually made it on TV...LOLYour front room decorated for the Sugar Bowl game. And we won too!That's my girl!Yep Santa is a UTE fan too.Now this is my favorite part of game day. I get a Touch Down kiss after they score!

Even our van gets in the spirit!

In Utah the church saying is CTR (Choose the Right). But at our house CTR means this!

Love my Utah Man! I found this video and thought it was so funny. Oh course these ARE NOT the real words to the school song. But it's how the other college teams think the Utah Ute fans are.

GO UTES!!! It's going to be a GREAT night at our house. Unless we loose:(