WELCOME!! Come on In, Read, and Stay Awhile ...........

I have been overweight for more than 15 years. 10 years ago I started having back and nerve problems that, for a very long time, I allowed to define me and strip me of who I really am. I became lazy and had convinced myself that my pain prevented me from doing much of anything. I gained nearly 100 lbs in just over 12 years.  In 2006 I had back surgery, by 2008 I became disabled as the pain became unbearable and my meds altered my mind to the point I completely lost myself and had given up.

January 2010 my husband and I decided to 'get serious' about weight loss and getting healthy. In 3 months I lost 30 lbs by making small changes and joining the Y and doing water aerobics. I didn't know it at the time but I wasn't ready. I wasn't willing to commit to what it would take to see this through and by years end I had gained the weight back.

Fast forward to January 2011 - a chance for a new resolution - I don't really know what changed inside me. Maybe it was the guilt of realizing my weight was a contributing factor to the failure of my first marriage, perhaps it was being embarrassed that I was always the fattest woman in the room or that I realized my children and grandchildren, my husband and the rest of my family, all deserved the best me and I was not giving them that. (I would also realize much later that I deserved MY BEST ME and that while it is noble to do it for others - it is critical you do it for yourself).

Part of me was also tired of my haters (yeah, I have a few) always using the word FAT to describe me and I wanted to show them that they weren't going to be able to do that anymore once I got skinny!!!! I was tired of obsessing about my weight silently to myself and tired of what I now know was a very unhealthy relationship with food.

And so, January 1st, 2011 I began the journey of finding myself....1 Drop of Sweat at a Time. Thus the name for my blog.

This blog is a place for me to share my journey and to put pen to paper - or in this case, keyboard to computer screen, to provide an avenue for me to chronicle where I have been and where I vow never to go back to. It is a place for me to set goals and give myself accountability and maybe, if I am lucky, to inspire you and maybe make you laugh along the way.

Welcome.........Come on in, Read and Stay Awhile................let's become friends!!!