About Me (Ruth)

Hello and Welcome! The purpose of this blog is to share information about getting healthier and encourage each other on that journey. I recently made some changes in my lifestyle that have resulted in weight loss and gaining strength and flexibility. My 3 wonderful adult daughters will be joining me and we will be posting our experience. I will be directing them to follow the steps I took that have been producing positive changes for me. You are welcome to join us or simply cheer us on!  Each of them will be sharing about themselves and offering tips as well as we work towards our goals to healthier bodies. I will start by sharing about myself. I am a 54 year old menopausal woman who feels very young at heart. I was always thin but had slowly put on weight over the last 15 years. Was I overweight? No. Was I happy with my body? No. I had become soft and saggy and of course the muffin top! Still working on it too! But I'm headed in the right direction now. I've tried for the last decade to lose 5 pounds. I use the word "tried" very loosely because I never really gave it TOO much effort.  I've often thought, "there's a better body underneath this layer of fat!"  The real eye opener came back in November when I got to care for my first grandchild. Wow what a blessing to be a grandparent! I was so excited to get to hold and feed her. By the end of the night I began to realize how out of shape I was. This little baby was causing my back and neck to hurt, my knees were creaking and I couldn't sit Indian style because my right hip was too tight! I thought to myself, "how the heck will I play with her when she gets a little bigger if I'm having trouble now and shes only 10 pounds!" I was on the treadmill one evening before I got serious about getting healthy and I had eaten a piece of chocolate cake. I had looked up the calorie content before getting on the treadmill. It was 350 calories. So I figured I would stay on the treadmill til I worked it off. Took me an hour! I thought  what if I had walked an hour and NOT eaten the cake!? I did all that work just to break even. When I got my pedometer I began to look at food in steps. That stinkin cake cost me 12,000 steps!!! I also found an exercise that I enjoy and have been doing it 4-5x  a week, its called the bar method. Its now 12 weeks later and I've lost 11 pounds and over 8 inches, I can sit indian style til the cows come home and can carry my now 16 pound grand daughter all I want! I haven't reached all my goals yet but Im feeling healthier and stronger then I ever have. I'm excited to have company as we push each other forward :)

My Goals as of 12/29/2012:

1. Firm up abs, thighs, butt and arms.
2. Gain flexibility in hips, shoulders.
3. Increase overall muscle while decreasing overall fat%
4. Lose 10-15 pounds
5. Shrink or eliminate muffin top when sitting down.