Happy Monday to everyone reading this. I hope you have enjoyed your two days away from anything you may have going on during the week. I know Mondays are anticipated to be the worst day of the week by a lot of people, simply because you have just had relaxation time, and now you have to go back to any obligations you may have on a weekday. Despite that, I am hoping when you read this its just making your day a little bit brighter!
Today I am going to start off by saying that as of May 23, school let out for about two, and a half months, and since then a lot has been going on. This has not been your typical summer, I have not been on any vacations, and I have not been spending time with friends.
At the beginning of Summer, I had a personal realization that I could do with losing some weight and decided to begin working on my my physical health. I knew I had weight to lose for a while before this, but I hadn’t thought much about it, until I actually took a look at myself, and thought, “How did I gain this weight in the first place?” “What can I do to lose this weight?” At that point I decided something needed to change.
So, what did I do you may ask? Well after looking into what I eat, and digest on a daily basis, I quickly noticed that I was not eating the correct foods that I should have been eating, and in some cases I would eat too much food in one sitting. I was also eating too many sweet treats whenever I wanted them, and not actually regulating how much I had, or when I had them at all. I was not paying any attention to how this effected my body either to be completely honest, with you, and myself. Subsequently, I have cut back the amount of candy, cookies, chips, and ice cream that I would usually eat. Now when I do have them, it is so much more flavorful, and a rewarding treat!
In addition to this, I have also increased the number of workouts that I do per week and have started training harder at the gym when I go. I mainly work on my core, and free weights, but also the weight machines when I can. After the gym, I sometimes roll around the house too in my manual wheelchair. It has finally dawned on me that getting your heart rate up, is what helps you lose weight faster, so with that being said, I try to do everything I can, in order to get my heart rate up. Don’t get me wrong, yes, this does take a lot of time, and determination, but it is something that will happen very slowly, and over time, it’s not just going to happen overnight.
At the same time as deciding to better myself, and loose the weight that I needed to loose, I also decided to make an end of the year goal, which was to participate in the 2019 Las Vegas Great Santa Run, because if I am putting this much hard work, and dedication into other things, then why not take the dedication one step further, because what do you have to lose, the answer is nothing. All this means for me, is that I have to work super hard, and walk what is long distances to me whenever I get the chance to. The first time I attempted doing this, I walked down to Starbucks, that is in total 3.3 miles from our house, which is way too far for me to walk, so instead we made a park close to our house my starting point, which is 1.1 miles, and that’s still like walking a Marathon for me, haha. When I first attempted walking down there, I made all but about three streets, and then my parents had to grab ether side of my walker, and push me the rest of the way, as I was just too exhausted to continue. To walk up to the point I did, with all but three streets left at most, it took me an hour, and thirty minutes. As time went on though, and I did this particular walk a few more times, we managed to get the time down to fifty-five minutes in total and make it all the way to Starbucks. My Dad, and I were out walking one day, and we decided together that it is better for me to work on my stamina, than just having the walk be all down hill, which is what the Starbucks walk is. As a result of this, I now do a new walk, that is approximately .65 of a mile, but most of it is uphill. I manage to complete this walk in just under fifty minutes. I haven’t been walking outside for quite a while, due to the extremely hot weather that we have been having here in Vegas lately. I am going to resume my training once it cools down. This Santa run/walk that I’m going to do takes place at the same location, and around the same time each year. It takes place at Downtown Las Vegas, and all proceeds go to Opportunity Village, it will happen on December seventh, this year. The dates for this run may very, but it always takes place on the first Saturday in December. Each participant has two choices, they can ether choose to take part in the one-mile walk, or the 5K run. I am choosing to Participate in the one-mile walk using my reverse walker. My Dad has helped me set up a fundraising page, for the walk, in which we have raised $3,472.94 so far, and our end goal is $5000 even. Thanks to my Dad asking people to donate and passing all his donations over to me. I really appreciate any donations that have been made, and have yet to be made, it is so, so generous of you all, thank you so much.