My Story....

1983

Growing up I was always that skinny kid, you know the type, the one that can eat almost anything and never gain a pound. 

Junior Prom 1990

 At 19 when I got pregnant with my oldest I weighed a whole 118 pounds at 6 months pregnant, which was up 10 pounds.

Kelsey's Baptism June 1993, that's me holding her!

 After having Kelsey I stayed a pretty steady 115-120 until getting pregnant with Natalie on our honeymoon. I was always a walker, walking was and is my favorite form of exercise. 

Wedding July 8, 1995

Being an Air Force family meant moves, and in 1997 we moved to England. August of 1998 I had an ovarian torsion of my left ovary and Fallopian tube, which had to be taken out in emergency surgery. As soon as I was healed enough and cleared by my surgeon I started driving to the Mildenhall gym. About a month after going to the gym for the first time, two of the guys asked me if they could swap in and out on a piece of equipment with me between sets. 

There was plenty of equipment to go around but who was I to say so? Turned out that one of them was a certified personal trainer before joining the military, and they had watched me working my little heart out, the wrong way, and decided intervention was needed. Bonus was that they did it without me knowing that was what they were doing. The whole time we were swapping in and out he would say things like "Hey Patty try this, this way." Or  to his friend, who would purposely mimic my bad form, "Ok now fix your wrists, or slow down your reps." He was never condescending and never in my face. For the first six months I didn't even know he had been/was a personal trainer, they just became my gym buddies. They would deploy and come back and pick it back up. I was in the best shape of my life, a fit 120. 

Junior Class Sponsor/Prom 2003, with Jerry and Jesse

About 2 years later they left England, and I let life get in the way, stopped going to the gym like I had been.  Getting pregnant with Declan at 29, was both a shock and a surprise. I lost the weight fairly easily after having him, but there was no time for the gym and no motivation to go. 

Jesse and Misty's Wedding January 2004, 4 months pregnant with Declan

Children's Book Week 2011

NASA Tweet Up July 2011

Space Camp Tweetup January 2012

Spring Break 2012

May 2013

Spring 2014

Pat's Run 2014

Summer 2014

In 2006 I finally had an OB/GYN who got that the endometriosis was making my life hard to live, of course looking back on it, I would rather have had the pain of that then what I went through over the next 6 months. 7th of January 2007 I had a full hysterectomy. The 14th I developed MSRA, and on the 21st I had a second surgery to remove the infection, and had an open wound for 3 months. I spent the next 3 months with a wound vac. I was not cleared for any exercise above walking (and even that was very limited) for 8 months. I was not fully cleared to exercise for almost 2 years (no abdominal exercise until then). When you add in the loss of hormones and instant menopause, you get a whole person added to your body. :( In 2011 I was invited through the Arizona State Alumni Association chapter in Georgia to participate in the shadow Pat's Run in Atlanta. 4.2 miles running or walking.

Pat's Run 2011

 I knew I wasn't going to be able to do it running (at this point I was recovering from breaking my ankle in the fall), but I could walk that. I started walking, bought a pedometer and started using mapmywalk on my computer and I was off. The day of the Pat's Run, we were running late because the park was further from Twiggs County than I thought, but we got there right at the start of the run. I was one of the last people to finish, but I DID it! For the next 18-20 months I kept up with my walking, and a former student and current friend invited me to do the Savannah Rock-n-Roll half marathon with her and her family in 2013. 

Savannah Rock-n-Roll 2013

However the stress of my husband's retirement from the Air Force, him trying to find a job that could support us, my getting a new job and moving the family to South Carolina, I fell off the walking wagon. I completed the Savannah half, then did the Raleigh Rock-n-Roll half, neither one with awesome times, but I did them both and I finished them both.

Raleigh Rock-n-Roll 2014

 June of 2014 was Natalie's graduation.  I was at my highest weight ever. 

Natalie's Graduation June 2014

I saw the family pictures from her graduation and cried. In July of 2014 I met my coach Kimberly through the running group that we both belong to Wear Blue:Run to Remember. She encouraged me to just keep going and to keep my goal in sight. In September 2014 I ordered PiYo and in October I joined one of Kimberly's challenge groups. I am the first to admit I wasn't faithful with my food. I didn't order Shakeology until October when I ordered 21 Day Fix. I was supposed to be training for the Savannah Rock-n-Roll in November and I know PiYo helped with that because I was not sore at all afterwards! 

Savannah Rock-n-Roll 2014

I lost a couple of pounds, not as much as I wanted but I lost some. I lost quite a few inches though, so I was seeing progress. December 2014 was rough. I got sick and wasn't exercising like I should have been. I stepped on that scale and cried, my progress was gone. I made a commitment that day to start getting 20,000 steps a day, in preparation for the 3 Rock-n-Roll half marathons I have signed up for in 2015 (Raleigh, Virginia Beach, and Savannah). I started seeing the progress several of my friends were having with the new Max 30 workouts and I wanted it. On Facebook I learned about a 2015 miles in the year 2015 (click the link, you can still sign up!) and decided it fit perfect with my 20,000 steps a day goal. Then I made myself a deal that I was only going to count the miles I log on my Garmin, which are intentional walks/jogs (did I mention the ankle that has been broken twice? The one the orthopedic doc said not to run on?) I started my step goal on December 28th, 2014 and had 2.66 intentional miles walking. I got in my Max30 on January 6th and haven't looked back. I have to do the modified version with my ankle, but I can see the changes already. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for me.

Do you want to join me on this journey? Check out My Beachbody page to order! If you are local and want to try the Max30  or PiYo before you order it, let me know and we can set up a time for you to come to the house, or I can bring it to your house for you to do a work out. 

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