Motivations

Websites I seek out for advice, ideas, thoughts and inspiration:

• Can You Stay for Dinner: The blogger shares her "walk through life, loss, and love of food"

What I have trouble with... It may be TMI, but I'm being honest here.

• Wiping my rear end
• Some motivations don't need an explanation, some do.  This one doesn't mean that I walk around with a dirty backside, not at all, but it does mean that I have trouble reaching it.  My rear end is big, huge even, and I have to reach around it.  My arms are big also, which makes reaching around difficult at times.  Not to mention my back and my sides.  All of this extra me... especially in the morning with stiff muscles and joints, makes reaching around to complete a simple task, not to simple.
• Sitting in the tub (getting in/out)
• This may not be a problem for those who are overweight and have a fabulous tub, however, for those of us with a standard bathroom tub, this can be difficult for even those who are in shape.  Not only is getting in/out difficult, but when I'm sitting in it the water doesn't exactly flow from back to front... I kinda fill it from side to side and there's no room for it to go over me... I have to move around a bit for the water to be able to move around
• Sitting on the floor (process of getting down there)
• Getting up off of the floor when sitting
• Putting on my socks and shoes
• I can't easily sit down and put one leg over my other knee... the leg being lifted usually slides off my knee.  What I've been doing for the past year or so is sitting on the corner of my chaise lounge, very unlady like with legs spread wide, and putting one foot on the couch corner in between my legs.  It helps that I've always been very flexible.  Another option is that I put on my socks/shoes with the help of my bed.  My bed is very high off of the round.  The top of the mattress is about as high as my leg joint, so I swing my leg up to my bed, while standing on the other leg, bend at the knee a bit awkwardly, and put on my sock and shoe and then turn around to do the same with the other foot.
• Wearing an anklet
• In addition to just being overweight, my legs swell partially due to high blood pressure (kept in control with medication) and partially due to lymphedema. This makes wearing socks uncomfortable on some days, because the top edge can sometimes cut into me if my legs swell, and certainly take wearing an anklet off of the table.  I'm hoping with weight loss and leading a healthier lifestyle I will one day be able to wear an anklet without must worry of swelling.
• Coughing - I tend to pee a little when I cough hard
• Climbing stairs
• Walking
• Running
• Dancing
• Working out
• Okay, this one may be a no brainer, but I WANT to work out.  I want to spend an hour in the gym, give it my all, and leave feeling accomplished.  Yes, I do give it my all now, but I am a perfectionist with high standards, and no one is harder on me than I am.  I want to RUN!  I want to attend yoga classes without stumbling around at the simplest pose.  There's so much that I WANT to do, that I'm just not able to right now...  Part about being honest here, is being honest with myself, and knowing that I have limits right now.  Last thing I want is to injure myself.

What I look forwards to...

• Being able to sit on my husband's lap for more than a moment
• Being able to be picked up
• Dancing into the night
• Sitting on something flimsy, without too much worry about it collapsing
• Running my first 5k
• Participating in a half marathon, then a marathon!
• Going on a hike without wondering if I'm going to make it back down
• Learning to ski
• Having a healthy pregnancy
• Chasing my kids
• Running with my dog
• Being comfortable in an airplane seat
• Being comfortable in a dinner chair that has sides/arms
• Zip-lining in the Caribbean, on a ship, or, well, anywhere!
• Shopping!