2020 for so many people was horrible and I have to say 2020
is probably one of my best years because
so much. Lost so much but gained other things. Um so,
it's it's it's been a life changer. You know, the MOVE
program changed my life. Uh losing the weight has changed
my life.
I don't have my actual knees anymore. They're they've been
installed by the VA. So, they are probably going to outlast
me but I'm probably in the best shape that I have been since,
probably since I was in the service. Because of what I've
accomplished now. It's just been a game changer. That's
awesome.
I really think the most difficult thing was the COVID
and the thoughts of am I gonna be able to get the support that
I need because we're not able to meet in person anymore? If I
was able going to be able to stick with it, if I was gonna
be able to keep my uh dedication up but really, I,
you know, I had already gotten into the mindset that this was
the time that I really wanted to do this for me and get it
done and be successful. And um then COVID hit, I was like, uh
oh, you know, is this, you know, how is this gonna work?
Uh never done anything, you know, video Conferencing or
anything like that before and I was like, okay, you know, are
we gonna be able to navigate this and you know, it Katie
just uh uh you know, Katie and Nicole both but Katie
particularly were just phenomenal. You know,
getting everything together and I mean, talk about thrown into
the fire with it and she just she succeeded, you know, and
and so did I and I and I credit that to not just Katie and
Nicole but the other vets that were in the program with me and
you know, we supported each other and you know, that's
that's the biggest thing. You know, you may not have that
support at home sometimes but when you have, even though they
were strangers, you get to know em and they just, they become
your support system.
Dedication and determination. Katie introduced us to a couple
different apps for tracking food and calories and I really
got into the one app which is called lose it. It
tracks your meals what you have for the meals. So, it
tracks your calories. You track your water, you track your
exercise, your weight, your body fat, you can track sleep,
steps, everything and and I just I find that as long as I
don't ignore it. Don't say well, I'll do it after this or
I'll get it later. I'm good. I do it and I've told, you know, a lot
of the other people in the class, track your stuff before
you even put it in your mouth. Get it in there if you're
prepping it. Do it while you're preparing your food. Put it in.
I actually will load most of my day stuff in the morning. Like
my dinner is already in there. I already know what I'm having
for dinner. So, I've already input it. So, that tells me how
many calories because yes I still watch my calories because
I don't want to slide back. Um it tells me how many uh
calories I can have for lunch or maybe a snack or something
like that with my breakfast and my dinner are already in there.
I'll I'll say it every time. You have to do it for yourself.
You can't do it because your doctor says you have to lose
weight. You can't do it because your spouse says maybe you
should lose some pounds. Come from you. When you get to that
point that you're like, I don't like how I look. I don't like
how I feel. I don't like that I can't walk up a flight of
stairs without feeling like my chest is gonna explode. When
you get to that point, that's when you're ready. And you'll
be able to have that success. Because everybody knows if
somebody's telling you to do something, you may do it for a
little while but you're gonna fall right back into the same
stuff. Got to do it because It's for you and you want to do
it.