healthraiserstories

NKU Health Raiser Stories
The following stories were submitted as entries for the NKU Health Raiser award. Though only one student and one employee can win the $20 prize, all those that entered are true winners and inspiring NKU Health Rasiers!
Cholesterol falls with better diet and physical activity Last fall (06) I started at NKU and started to gain weight from more sitting (studying) instead of activity. I am a vegetarian so I gave up dairy and eggs as well. I have stabilized my weight and have better heart health. I learned to cook more experimentally and I have dropped my cholesterol by nearly 60 points in one year! (I donate blood, so I get a cholesterol check every two months) I have more energy, have reduced my individual carbon emissions, helped my overall health and long term life expectancy! I call that a Health Raiser! Weight loss success through sensible eating and exercise I have recently lost 21 pounds after having weight problems most of my life. Now I have totally changed my way of eating by eating plenty of fresh fruits & veggies, protein (fish, pork, grilled chicken, etc). I eat 6 times a day and have been doing the Biggest Loser diet along with the show. I now exercise 3 to 4 times per week. I take the stairs more, & do regular stretching to unwind. I plan on continuing this to get down to a healthy weight, especially where heart disease runs in my family. I choose to make this my lifestyle, rather than crash dieting or pre-packaged food. NKU police officer wins physical fitness awards I am a police officer with the University Police department, I make it a habit to go to the NKU Campus Recreation and work out along with run two miles everyday at least five times a week. I try not to eat fried foods, everyday at work for lunch I eat a salad along with various vegetables. I make sure not to overeat meat during my meals, and everyday of the week I eat a salad for lunch. I will eat many small meals a day in order to keep my metabolism going on night shift. When I first started working out before being hired by the police department, I was out of shape and barely able to run a quarter of a mile. I have been working out everyday for the last year and a quarter, and I earned in the Police Academy the Physical Fitness Excellence award. I also earned the 110% excellence in physical fitness award in my police academy class. In High School, I weighed 315lbs, and since then (5 years ago) I have lost and came down to 230lbs. I do my best everyday to stay active and eat right, which is very hard to do working 6pm to 6am at the police department, when only fast food restaurants are open. New mom sheds pregnancy weight My entire life I have struggled to maintain a healthy lifestyle. After the birth of my son with special needs it became a huge challenge for me to spend time focusing on my own health. This year I have rededicated myself to get healthy in the limited time I have. This includes always taking the steps at work and when I am at home I take the steps and do squat thrusts along the way. I also do brief exercises while I play with my son, such as pushups or just flying a 20 pound kid around. I also have begun doing side bends and leg lifts in short bursts throughout the day, so I can get two things accomplished at once. Watching what I eat was harder. I decided I would stick to a fruit, vegetable, and whole grain diet from 8am-4pm. My husband cooks dinner, so I control portions in the evening. In the past month I have lost 6 pounds (the last of my baby weight) and I feel better all day. Bicycling to and from work relieves stress, saves money I couldn't figure out how to fit exercise into my daily routine - until I started bicycling to work. With young children and a busy schedule, turning my commuting time into biking time has been great. By the time I get home I am refreshed mentally and have left the stress of work on the highway. I feel healthier. And I am saving a bundle in gas. Having a workplace that makes bicycle commuting easy (except for the hill!) is a real plus, too. Fraternity man wins with Big Loser program (February winner!) Some of my fraternity brothers and I decided that we wanted to get in better shape and lose some weight. So we took everyone who wanted to start a biggest loser program within our fraternity and split into two teams both with a trainer. We have been doing it for four weeks now. So far I personally have lost a total of 16 pounds from eating better and working out more. As for a total I believe the guys and I all together have lost roughly 130 pounds, and that is in just the first four weeks of our program! Kicking the habit and saving serious cash (February winner!) I joined NKU’s Quit Smoking Session hosted by Bunny Peters from our Wellness Center on October 9, 2008. This was great information at a convenient time and location right on campus. With the help and support of this program I chose the method in which I wanted to use to help me kick the habit. I chose to use a new medication called Chantix. October 15th was my actual quit date. It has been 122 days (19 weeks) of being smoke free! I have saved approximately $549.00! I LOVE being smoke free. I will occasionally think it would be nice to have a cigarette but it's very easy to tell myself NO, you really do not want one and it passes quickly. I know from past experience not to think that I can handle it and allow myself to smoke just one. That's how I started smoking again after 8 years of being smoke free. I will NEVER think that smoking just one will be ok. You know smoking is an addiction just like being addicted to alcohol or drugs. So it’s great to have a support group to go to or call if you need that extra help getting through an urge. I hope this inspires you to give up the habit once and for all. You CAN DO IT, I did! March 2008 Life is better when your healthy I am a senior here at NKU. I think I am a health raiser because I have finally reached a time in my life where a healthy lifestyle is in full gear for me. When I graduate high school I was suffering with an eating disorder and went to college still about 20 pounds under the normal weight for my height. I was lucky thought to have a lot of support and get mentally back on track from this disorder. Unfortunately, when you don't eat for 2 years, you feel like you have a lot of eating time to make up for, and that is what I did. I ended up gaining 60 pounds in less that a year and a half. Talk about gaining the freshman 15. I gained the sophomore/Junior 60. When senior year was here, I knew I had to start getting healthy again. So I joined weight watchers in last September and I am happy to report I have lost 23.4 pounds since then. The weight watcher program has been a big help but I think it is also my workout regimen that really puts me in the healthy category. I work out 6 days a week and primarily do cardio, about 60 minutes or more. I love IT! I can tell a huge difference on my energy level and my overall attitude on the day I don't work out versus the days I do. I have been on both ends of the spectrum in a very short time as far as weight goes, but I can honestly say this is the best I have felt in a long long time. When you become more disciplined in having a healthy lifestyle it affects everything else in your life. My grades have been better, my relationships stronger, and my confidence at an all time high! What else can you ask for? Passing up pizza is worth it At a size 1X, and at a weight of 205 and a height of 5 ft 4 I was the biggest I had ever been. I was finding 16W pants were getting way too tight, I felt tired, that eating cups of Ramon noodles had become my biggest addiction. As a law student I spent much of my time sitting & reading with the weight piling on. In the beginning I did exercise, but had the misconception that exercise could work off whatever I ate, which is not the case. I ate heaping plates of spaghetti and reese cups at times of high stress. I made excuses, that it was all genetics, that I was just meant to be fat. Then I woke up. I realized if my weight kept going up at this rate I would be 230 by the time I graduated law school. I wanted to go on a law school wellness diet for myself, to feel better for job interviews, more confident & to be more healthy. I decided to do the Biggest Loser diet, or aka the food pyramid diet. This helped me learn what I am supposed to eat, basically if it comes from the ground or earth you eat it, but if it is fruit roll up or candy bar I say no. Basically I stay at the outside perimeters of the store. I cleaned out all my food, & restocked with healthy choices. If it is not there I will not eat it. It is very hard the first few couple weeks, but then became easier, including being around outside temptations. My mom and I are a team, we both started the diet roughly 9 weeks ago on January 1st. We call each other, and help motivate each other, including sharing new exercise or recipe tips. To date I have lost 30 lbs, going from 205 pounds to 175 pounds. I have lost about 15% of my body weight that I left behind somewhere between my apartment building and the law school. I hope to get down to around 150. I also wear a size 14 rather than a 16W. My mom has also lost close to 30 pounds. So our combined total is around 60 lbs. My mom has went down from a size 16 to a 12 and I am so happy for her. While on my journey I have had some success motivating others. Many have the misconception that dieting means you have to be a good cook. I told one of my friends that it is not as hard as you think. You grill chicken, bake fish, eat Tuna, and do a lot of cutting up of salad or fresh fruits. You may sometimes feel like a bunny, but getting hungry has not been a problem for me. I have 2 friends at my apartment complex. Both started out coming with me to the exercise room there, and watched me exercise. One of them, finally started getting on the Treadmill with me and is making steps to get more healthy. The other is in her 50s & has difficulty with her balance related to Cerebral Palsy. She was unsure how she too could exercise. So I pulled a mat over and showed her how to do leg exercises where you are laying down without pressure on your joints. Being healthy is all about sharing and not being afraid to tell your story, or tell where you were. I used to be embarrassed about what my weight was, but now it shows just how far I have come. I keep sharing what I am doing with everyone I can, or how I exercise. It is a continuing challenge. Last week many in my class were eating Pizza, and it looked tempting. But, then a lady came up to me and said wow are you losing weight? Then I felt so good, and realized just that one bite of something that is bad for you is not worth the price. Sure a treat is okay once in a while, but not everyday. I am sure many were where I was, just making excuses. But, if I can do this I know others can do this. It is just a matter of getting started. Swimming replaces boring treadmill Ever since I started my new job in human resources, I've noticed I started to gain weight due to sitting at my desk for 9 hours a day. I decided I needed to do something about it. I tried getting up in the mornings before work, but found myself sleeping in more times than actually going to the gym. So, I figured if I just brought clothes with me in the morning and headed right to the gym after work, I would stay motivated to work out. Instead of doing the boring treadmill that I dread, I decided to incorporate a new exercise routine by swimming. I started swimming 30 laps about 3 or 4 times a week. After just a few weeks, I have been able to increase my laps to 40. What’s great about my swimming routine, is that I don’t even consider it exercising because I’m having fun while doing it. In the meantime, I am building endurance, muscle strength, and cardio-vascular fitness. It’s also low impact, which means it’s not nearly as rough on my body as running or other sorts of exercises. I’ve decided to take my new found love of swimming and start training for a triathlon coming up this summer. Winning the battle against anorexia Four years ago just this very month, I was almost hospitalized for chaotic vitals due to my eating disorder. Three years ago, I was threatened with residential treatment if I didn't follow specific guidelines. I followed them to a T, was discharged from the partial treatment, got back home, and fell back into my anorexic patterns. Starve myself, purge my food, exercise till I feel even more physically exhausted. It was an endless and vicious cycle of self-hate that no one was going to disrupt. My eating disorder was my best friend and it helped me cope with issues with which I didn't know how to cope otherwise. I hated my eating disorder and I loved it. It made me feel that loathing my body was the only way I'd ever be able to deal with things and the only reason I stuck with it was for the occasional 'highs' it'd give me after stepping on the scale to see that the number had dropped. But five minutes later, I would be pushing myself even harder to the point that the cycle would be even harder to break and my irrational, negative thoughts would stream all too quickly in my mind. I wasn't able to have a thought to myself without my eating disorder ruining it first. About eight months ago, and still engaging in my very distorted thinking patterns, I heard my therapist's voice in the back of my head. "Try the meal plan for at least a month and if you don't like how you feel after that time span lapses, then there will always be the eating disorder to go back to." I think a lot of people would think that hearing that would make it all the more pointless to try, but she knew what she was doing, and it eventually landed me on the other side of the fence. I'd never followed a meal plan on my own. I always just wanted to lose lose lose. After countless dietician appointments, however, I'd had it literally drilled into my mind that restricting and purging slows down your metabolism. Your body will savor each and every single calorie if you don't give it what it needs. Eight months ago my metabolism was slower than an 80-year-old in a coma's metabolism and I was just 20! I was barely eating enough to survive but my body was maintaining my weight on just that. My body had had quite enough of the torture I put it through. So I decided I'd give it a try. I'd give the whole following a meal plan for a month a real go. The only reason I decided to do this though was so that I could speed up my metabolism and then lose it all the more quickly after that month was over. I went through the first few weeks of the month adamantly keeping that goal in mind. But during the last week or so, my mentality did a complete 180. I had energy, genuine energy. My personality had come back and I felt the old Ashton returning. And for the first time in a long time, I didn't associate any of the possibility I was feeling with weight gain and here is why: I didn't get fat off of actually eating! It was the most empowering experience of my life, I have to say. I never thought I'd be able to do something as courageous as that or something as difficult as that. I came to the realization that it wasn't my choice to have this horrible disease, but it was my choice to listen to the negative and construed thoughts, or fight it with every bit of strength I had. And I did just that. Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm fully recovered. I have my days where I feel like slipping back and then I have my days where I'm gung-ho recovery. But the important thing is that I now realize when I'm slipping and am active about stopping those destructive behaviors from ruining my life again. In a society where negative body image is the norm, I am finally and proudly able to say that I am not the norm. Anorexia had me by it's grasp for years that I will never be able to get back. But without it, I'd still be in the same patterned self-loathing thoughts I'd been experiencing since I was four. It probably almost killed me, and I still struggle a lot with believing that. But it didn't, thankfully. Instead it actually saved my mentality and made me the strong and lively person I am today. Yes, there are still behaviors I need to work through and stop. But if someone were to stop me on the sidewalk today and ask me if I gained ten pounds since the last time I saw them, I'd actually be able to say, "You bet I did! And don't I look awesome?!?" April 2008 10,000 steps a day! Since around seventh grade, I have had the goal to be healthy. I developed that goal as a result of a science book and my parents. I was going to be healthy through good eating and exercise. As with many goals one has peaks and valleys. I had my mountain tops and my valleys, but never seriously considered myself fat. Then about seven years ago according to charts and BMI measurements, I discovered that I was classified as fat. Well, I was not going to accept that label. About that time the Wellness Program here at NKU offered a discount on pedometers from the Cincinnati Nutrition Center. I bought one. It came with a chart for recording steps walked each day. If I mailed the chart back to the nutrition center, I would receive another chart. I did that for three or four times. Then I decided I could keep my own chart on a calendar. Then I decided to enter the results on an Excel spreadsheet so I could track myself from one year to the next. For me what worked was to be able to say I averaged 10,000 steps each day last month. Then it grew. I could say I averaged 10,000 each day last year. I did say average because there are days that I fall way short. My record keeping in earnest started September 9, 2002. Now I can say that four of the last six years I have average 10,000 steps per day. One of those two years I averaged 9,997; I missed the goal by 3 steps a day. I thought I had averaged 10,000 that year but discovered a math error after the year ended. The other year that I didn’t make 10,000 was the year that I had a knee problem early in the year. Now, you ask, did I lose weight? Well during that time I have lost twelve pounds, but I hasten to add that I think the weight lost came when I reduced my portion sizes of food. The steps have allowed me to keep it off. The recording of steps has been the incentive to keep me walking. The part that I rejoice about is that I can have a goal of 10,000 steps a day because twenty years ago, I destroyed the ACL in my left leg. I was told that arthritis and a knee replacement were likely in my future. So far I have been able to prevent both. Out of sight, out of mind! As we all know, eating healthy can be quite a challenge, especially with the availability of junk food - it's everywhere. It's at our home, parties we go to, in our office... How do you resist the temptation? Well, obviously, there is nothing we can do about places we have no control over. However, the place you can control temptations at is your home. I eliminate temptations at the root - in the grocery store. I do not buy any junk food so that I don't have to face the tempation at home. This helps a lot! The rule of thumb is if you buy it, you will eat it. If you don't have it in the house, when you want a snack, you will have to go for the healthy stuff (or just skip the snack. Stairway to heaven! A few of us in the office decided this year to give up using elevators for Lent. Now that Easter is over, we still haven't gone back to using the elevators unless it is physically impossible to use the stairs. We work on the 7th floor of the Administrative Center so it's a pretty good hike. It's become a bit of a competition to see how many times a day we take the stairs. Most of us come up from the 2nd floor and we are up and down sometimes 5-6 times a day. Let's just say that our legs are quite a bit stronger than they used to be. Attacking MS with exercise! I wanted to let others know that I have MS and I wanted to enhance my muscles. I've recently joined YaYa and I'm doing all I can to improve my outlook on this situation. I was very active in my younger years and this disease has been hard for me to accept, but I feel with making my muscles stretched and stronger I can better accept this challenge. So, I'm not really losing weight per say but toning and strengthing my body for the future. Personal training kick starts weight loss! I'm an NKU Health Raiser because of my success in losing weight, which started by signing up to work with a personal trainer at NKU, and it helped to get me started on the right track. I lost over 20 pounds while working out and doing cardio by walking and using the Leslie Sansome walking tapes. I have managed to change some of my eating habits and establish a workout program that fits my schedule. I hope that I can continue to make the right food and exercise choices for life. Healthy snacks are a hit in the office! Several of us in the Teacher Education and School Leadership office are concerned with eating healthy. We have had a snack bowl on our counter which usually contains various types of candy but one day I brought baby carrots and put them on the counter along with the candy. The carrots were a hit! The next Monday upon arriving in the office I found a gallon jar of dill pickles with the note “healthy snack.” We provided tongs and napkins and by the end of the week the pickles were almost gone. People from other offices stopped by for pickles! This week we have a 3lb. can of honey roasted peanuts on our counter. We feel good about providing a healthier snack for those in the office and those who stop by. It’s amazing how many people are appreciative of the healthier snacks and it’s fun to do something different. Thanks to our suite mates for providing good food for all of us.

NKU Health Raiser Stories

The following stories were submitted as entries for the NKU Health Raiser award. Though only one student and one employee can win the $20 prize, all those that entered are true winners and inspiring NKU Health Rasiers!

Cholesterol falls with better diet and physical activity

Last fall (06) I started at NKU and started to gain weight from more sitting (studying) instead of activity. I am a vegetarian so I gave up dairy and eggs as well. I have stabilized my weight and have better heart health. I learned to cook more experimentally and I have dropped my cholesterol by nearly 60 points in one year! (I donate blood, so I get a cholesterol check every two months) I have more energy, have reduced my individual carbon emissions, helped my overall health and long term life expectancy! I call that a Health Raiser!

Weight loss success through sensible eating and exercise

I have recently lost 21 pounds after having weight problems most of my life. Now I have totally changed my way of eating by eating plenty of fresh fruits & veggies, protein (fish, pork, grilled chicken, etc). I eat 6 times a day and have been doing the Biggest Loser diet along with the show. I now exercise 3 to 4 times per week. I take the stairs more, & do regular stretching to unwind. I plan on continuing this to get down to a healthy weight, especially where heart disease runs in my family. I choose to make this my lifestyle, rather than crash dieting or pre-packaged food.

NKU police officer wins physical fitness awards

I am a police officer with the University Police department, I make it a habit to go to the NKU Campus Recreation and work out along with run two miles everyday at least five times a week. I try not to eat fried foods, everyday at work for lunch I eat a salad along with various vegetables. I make sure not to overeat meat during my meals, and everyday of the week I eat a salad for lunch. I will eat many small meals a day in order to keep my metabolism going on night shift. When I first started working out before being hired by the police department, I was out of shape and barely able to run a quarter of a mile. I have been working out everyday for the last year and a quarter, and I earned in the Police Academy the Physical Fitness Excellence award. I also earned the 110% excellence in physical fitness award in my police academy class. In High School, I weighed 315lbs, and since then (5 years ago) I have lost and came down to 230lbs. I do my best everyday to stay active and eat right, which is very hard to do working 6pm to 6am at the police department, when only fast food restaurants are open.

New mom sheds pregnancy weight

My entire life I have struggled to maintain a healthy lifestyle. After the birth of my son with special needs it became a huge challenge for me to spend time focusing on my own health. This year I have rededicated myself to get healthy in the limited time I have. This includes always taking the steps at work and when I am at home I take the steps and do squat thrusts along the way. I also do brief exercises while I play with my son, such as pushups or just flying a 20 pound kid around. I also have begun doing side bends and leg lifts in short bursts throughout the day, so I can get two things accomplished at once. Watching what I eat was harder. I decided I would stick to a fruit, vegetable, and whole grain diet from 8am-4pm. My husband cooks dinner, so I control portions in the evening. In the past month I have lost 6 pounds (the last of my baby weight) and I feel better all day.

Bicycling to and from work relieves stress, saves money

I couldn't figure out how to fit exercise into my daily routine - until I started bicycling to work. With young children and a busy schedule, turning my commuting time into biking time has been great. By the time I get home I am refreshed mentally and have left the stress of work on the highway. I feel healthier. And I am saving a bundle in gas. Having a workplace that makes bicycle commuting easy (except for the hill!) is a real plus, too.

Fraternity man wins with Big Loser program (February winner!)

Some of my fraternity brothers and I decided that we wanted to get in better shape and lose some weight.

So we took everyone who wanted to start a biggest loser program within our fraternity and split into two teams both with a trainer. We have been doing it for four weeks now. So far I personally have lost a total of 16 pounds from eating better and working out more. As for a total I believe the guys and I all together have lost roughly 130 pounds, and that is in just the first four weeks of our program!

Kicking the habit and saving serious cash (February winner!)

I joined NKU’s Quit Smoking Session hosted by Bunny Peters from our Wellness Center on October 9, 2008. This was great information at a convenient time and location right on campus. With the help and support of this program I chose the method in which I wanted to use to help me kick the habit. I chose to use a new medication called Chantix. October 15th was my actual quit date. It has been 122 days (19 weeks) of being smoke free! I have saved approximately $549.00! I LOVE being smoke free. I will occasionally think it would be nice to have a cigarette but it's very easy to tell myself NO, you really do not want one and it passes quickly. I know from past experience not to think that I can handle it and allow myself to smoke just one. That's how I started smoking again after 8 years of being smoke free. I will NEVER think that smoking just one will be ok. You know smoking is an addiction just like being addicted to alcohol or drugs. So it’s great to have a support group to go to or call if you need that extra help getting through an urge. I hope this inspires you to give up the habit once and for all. You CAN DO IT, I did!

March 2008

Life is better when your healthy

I am a senior here at NKU. I think I am a health raiser because I have finally reached a time in my life where a healthy lifestyle is in full gear for me. When I graduate high school I was suffering with an eating disorder and went to college still about 20 pounds under the normal weight for my height. I was lucky thought to have a lot of support and get mentally back on track from this disorder. Unfortunately, when you don't eat for 2 years, you feel like you have a lot of eating time to make up for, and that is what I did. I ended up gaining 60 pounds in less that a year and a half. Talk about gaining the freshman 15. I gained the sophomore/Junior 60. When senior year was here, I knew I had to start getting healthy again. So I joined weight watchers in last September and I am happy to report I have lost 23.4 pounds since then. The weight watcher program has been a big help but I think it is also my workout regimen that really puts me in the healthy category. I work out 6 days a week and primarily do cardio, about 60 minutes or more. I love IT! I can tell a huge difference on my energy level and my overall attitude on the day I don't work out versus the days I do. I have been on both ends of the spectrum in a very short time as far as weight goes, but I can honestly say this is the best I have felt in a long long time. When you become more disciplined in having a healthy lifestyle it affects everything else in your life. My grades have been better, my relationships stronger, and my confidence at an all time high! What else can you ask for?

Passing up pizza is worth it

At a size 1X, and at a weight of 205 and a height of 5 ft 4 I was the biggest I had ever been. I was finding 16W pants were getting way too tight, I felt tired, that eating cups of Ramon noodles had become my biggest addiction. As a law student I spent much of my time sitting & reading with the weight piling on. In the beginning I did exercise, but had the misconception that exercise could work off whatever I ate, which is not the case. I ate heaping plates of spaghetti and reese cups at times of high stress. I made excuses, that it was all genetics, that I was just meant to be fat.

Then I woke up. I realized if my weight kept going up at this rate I would be 230 by the time I graduated law school. I wanted to go on a law school wellness diet for myself, to feel better for job interviews, more confident & to be more healthy.

I decided to do the Biggest Loser diet, or aka the food pyramid diet. This helped me learn what I am supposed to eat, basically if it comes from the ground or earth you eat it, but if it is fruit roll up or candy bar I say no. Basically I stay at the outside perimeters of the store. I cleaned out all my food, & restocked with healthy choices. If it is not there I will not eat it. It is very hard the first few couple weeks, but then became easier, including being around outside temptations.

My mom and I are a team, we both started the diet roughly 9 weeks ago on January 1st. We call each other, and help motivate each other, including sharing new exercise or recipe tips. To date I have lost 30 lbs, going from 205 pounds to 175 pounds. I have lost about 15% of my body weight that I left behind somewhere between my apartment building and the law school. I hope to get down to around 150. I also wear a size 14 rather than a 16W. My mom has also lost close to 30 pounds. So our combined total is around 60 lbs. My mom has went down from a size 16 to a 12 and I am so happy for her.

While on my journey I have had some success motivating others. Many have the misconception that dieting means you have to be a good cook. I told one of my friends that it is not as hard as you think. You grill chicken, bake fish, eat Tuna, and do a lot of cutting up of salad or fresh fruits. You may sometimes feel like a bunny, but getting hungry has not been a problem for me.

I have 2 friends at my apartment complex. Both started out coming with me to the exercise room there, and watched me exercise. One of them, finally started getting on the Treadmill with me and is making steps to get more healthy. The other is in her 50s & has difficulty with her balance related to Cerebral Palsy. She was unsure how she too could exercise. So I pulled a mat over and showed her how to do leg exercises where you are laying down without pressure on your joints.

Being healthy is all about sharing and not being afraid to tell your story, or tell where you were. I used to be embarrassed about what my weight was, but now it shows just how far I have come. I keep sharing what I am doing with everyone I can, or how I exercise.

It is a continuing challenge. Last week many in my class were eating Pizza, and it looked tempting. But, then a lady came up to me and said wow are you losing weight? Then I felt so good, and realized just that one bite of something that is bad for you is not worth the price. Sure a treat is okay once in a while, but not everyday.

I am sure many were where I was, just making excuses. But, if I can do this I know others can do this. It is just a matter of getting started.

Swimming replaces boring treadmill

Ever since I started my new job in human resources, I've noticed I started to gain weight due to sitting at my desk for 9 hours a day. I decided I needed to do something about it. I tried getting up in the mornings before work, but found myself sleeping in more times than actually going to the gym. So, I figured if I just brought clothes with me in the morning and headed right to the gym after work, I would stay motivated to work out. Instead of doing the boring treadmill that I dread, I decided to incorporate a new exercise routine by swimming. I started swimming 30 laps about 3 or 4 times a week. After just a few weeks, I have been able to increase my laps to 40. What’s great about my swimming routine, is that I don’t even consider it exercising because I’m having fun while doing it. In the meantime, I am building endurance, muscle strength, and cardio-vascular fitness. It’s also low impact, which means it’s not nearly as rough on my body as running or other sorts of exercises. I’ve decided to take my new found love of swimming and start training for a triathlon coming up this summer.

Winning the battle against anorexia

Four years ago just this very month, I was almost hospitalized for chaotic vitals due to my eating disorder. Three years ago, I was threatened with residential treatment if I didn't follow specific guidelines. I followed them to a T, was discharged from the partial treatment, got back home, and fell back into my anorexic patterns. Starve myself, purge my food, exercise till I feel even more physically exhausted. It was an endless and vicious cycle of self-hate that no one was going to disrupt. My eating disorder was my best friend and it helped me cope with issues with which I didn't know how to cope otherwise. I hated my eating disorder and I loved it. It made me feel that loathing my body was the only way I'd ever be able to deal with things and the only reason I stuck with it was for the occasional 'highs' it'd give me after stepping on the scale to see that the number had dropped. But five minutes later, I would be pushing myself even harder to the point that the cycle would be even harder to break and my irrational, negative thoughts would stream all too quickly in my mind. I wasn't able to have a thought to myself without my eating disorder ruining it first.

About eight months ago, and still engaging in my very distorted thinking patterns, I heard my therapist's voice in the back of my head. "Try the meal plan for at least a month and if you don't like how you feel after that time span lapses, then there will always be the eating disorder to go back to." I think a lot of people would think that hearing that would make it all the more pointless to try, but she knew what she was doing, and it eventually landed me on the other side of the fence. I'd never followed a meal plan on my own. I always just wanted to lose lose lose. After countless dietician appointments, however, I'd had it literally drilled into my mind that restricting and purging slows down your metabolism. Your body will savor each and every single calorie if you don't give it what it needs. Eight months ago my metabolism was slower than an 80-year-old in a coma's metabolism and I was just 20! I was barely eating enough to survive but my body was maintaining my weight on just that. My body had had quite enough of the torture I put it through. So I decided I'd give it a try. I'd give the whole following a meal plan for a month a real go. The only reason I decided to do this though was so that I could speed up my metabolism and then lose it all the more quickly after that month was over. I went through the first few weeks of the month adamantly keeping that goal in mind. But during the last week or so, my mentality did a complete 180. I had energy, genuine energy. My personality had come back and I felt the old Ashton returning. And for the first time in a long time, I didn't associate any of the possibility I was feeling with weight gain and here is why: I didn't get fat off of actually eating! It was the most empowering experience of my life, I have to say. I never thought I'd be able to do something as courageous as that or something as difficult as that. I came to the realization that it wasn't my choice to have this horrible disease, but it was my choice to listen to the negative and construed thoughts, or fight it with every bit of strength I had. And I did just that. Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm fully recovered. I have my days where I feel like slipping back and then I have my days where I'm gung-ho recovery. But the important thing is that I now realize when I'm slipping and am active about stopping those destructive behaviors from ruining my life again.

In a society where negative body image is the norm, I am finally and proudly able to say that I am not the norm. Anorexia had me by it's grasp for years that I will never be able to get back. But without it, I'd still be in the same patterned self-loathing thoughts I'd been experiencing since I was four. It probably almost killed me, and I still struggle a lot with believing that. But it didn't, thankfully. Instead it actually saved my mentality and made me the strong and lively person I am today. Yes, there are still behaviors I need to work through and stop. But if someone were to stop me on the sidewalk today and ask me if I gained ten pounds since the last time I saw them, I'd actually be able to say, "You bet I did! And don't I look awesome?!?"

April 2008

10,000 steps a day!

Since around seventh grade, I have had the goal to be healthy. I developed that goal as a result of a science book and my parents. I was going to be healthy through good eating and exercise. As with many goals one has peaks and valleys. I had my mountain tops and my valleys, but never seriously considered myself fat. Then about seven years ago according to charts and BMI measurements, I discovered that I was classified as fat. Well, I was not going to accept that label. About that time the Wellness Program here at NKU offered a discount on pedometers from the Cincinnati Nutrition Center. I bought one. It came with a chart for recording steps walked each day. If I mailed the chart back to the nutrition center, I would receive another chart. I did that for three or four times. Then I decided I could keep my own chart on a calendar. Then I decided to enter the results on an Excel spreadsheet so I could track myself from one year to the next. For me what worked was to be able to say I averaged 10,000 steps each day last month. Then it grew. I could say I averaged 10,000 each day last year. I did say average because there are days that I fall way short. My record keeping in earnest started September 9, 2002. Now I can say that four of the last six years I have average 10,000 steps per day. One of those two years I averaged 9,997; I missed the goal by 3 steps a day. I thought I had averaged 10,000 that year but discovered a math error after the year ended. The other year that I didn’t make 10,000 was the year that I had a knee problem early in the year. Now, you ask, did I lose weight? Well during that time I have lost twelve pounds, but I hasten to add that I think the weight lost came when I reduced my portion sizes of food. The steps have allowed me to keep it off. The recording of steps has been the incentive to keep me walking. The part that I rejoice about is that I can have a goal of 10,000 steps a day because twenty years ago, I destroyed the ACL in my left leg. I was told that arthritis and a knee replacement were likely in my future. So far I have been able to prevent both.

Out of sight, out of mind!

As we all know, eating healthy can be quite a challenge, especially with the availability of junk food - it's everywhere. It's at our home, parties we go to, in our office... How do you resist the temptation? Well, obviously, there is nothing we can do about places we have no control over. However, the place you can control temptations at is your home. I eliminate temptations at the root - in the grocery store. I do not buy any junk food so that I don't have to face the tempation at home. This helps a lot! The rule of thumb is if you buy it, you will eat it. If you don't have it in the house, when you want a snack, you will have to go for the healthy stuff (or just skip the snack.

Stairway to heaven!

A few of us in the office decided this year to give up using elevators for Lent. Now that Easter is over, we still haven't gone back to using the elevators unless it is physically impossible to use the stairs. We work on the 7th floor of the Administrative Center so it's a pretty good hike. It's become a bit of a competition to see how many times a day we take the stairs. Most of us come up from the 2nd floor and we are up and down sometimes 5-6 times a day. Let's just say that our legs are quite a bit stronger than they used to be.

Attacking MS with exercise!

I wanted to let others know that I have MS and I wanted to enhance my muscles. I've recently joined YaYa and I'm doing all I can to improve my outlook on this situation. I was very active in my younger years and this disease has been hard for me to accept, but I feel with making my muscles stretched and stronger I can better accept this challenge. So, I'm not really losing weight per say but toning and strengthing my body for the future.

Personal training kick starts weight loss!

I'm an NKU Health Raiser because of my success in losing weight, which started by signing up to work with a personal trainer at NKU, and it helped to get me started on the right track. I lost over 20 pounds while working out and doing cardio by walking and using the Leslie Sansome walking tapes. I have managed to change some of my eating habits and establish a workout program that fits my schedule. I hope that I can continue to make the right food and exercise choices for life.

Healthy snacks are a hit in the office!

Several of us in the Teacher Education and School Leadership office are concerned with eating healthy. We have had a snack bowl on our counter which usually contains various types of candy but one day I brought baby carrots and put them on the counter along with the candy. The carrots were a hit!

The next Monday upon arriving in the office I found a gallon jar of dill pickles with the note “healthy snack.” We provided tongs and napkins and by the end of the week the pickles were almost gone. People from other offices stopped by for pickles!

This week we have a 3lb. can of honey roasted peanuts on our counter. We feel good about providing a healthier snack for those in the office and those who stop by. It’s amazing how many people are appreciative of the healthier snacks and it’s fun to do something different. Thanks to our suite mates for providing good food for all of us.

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