What does not kill you make you stronger. It really does

If you are a reader of my blog, you should know by now that my New Year resolution for 2013 was to get healthier, lose weight and change my lifestyle. Most people have the same resolution year after year. But for me, it was serious and needed to happen.

I have medical background and I even have a Masters in Public Health and almost all my life I have been preaching how to be healthy and make lifestyle changes. However I was far from walk my talk, and I was not living a very healthy lifestyle. 

It was towards the end of 2012 that I went for a yearly check up and my doctor told me that I was obese. Yes, not overweight, but obese. The doctor told me that I was at high risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and other serious diseases. I was on shock. I knew I had some extra pounds, come on, my clothes were not really shrinking, but I was on denial about the severity of my problem.

My son is just 8 years old and I was not ready to become ill and not be able to enjoy time with him. I was already out of shape and keeping up with him playing was getting harder. Then I made a commitment. For me, for my son, for my family. 

It was time to change things here. Change my lifestyle. I had been on diets before, but it was obvious they actually did not work. So the change had to be in all aspects of my life. And the changes were going to include my family as well, so everyone was going to benefit from the changes.

What I have done so far that has helped me to lose 35 pounds.

• Exercise: I am walking 5 miles a day. It is recommended that you take 10,000 steps a day which equals to 5 miles.
• Drinking water: I am drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day. I have reduced the amount of diet sodas (I am still working on trying to stop drinking them)
• Eating more fruits and vegetables. Changing the way I eat. I am not following any diet (diets do not work, believe me), but I am watching my portions and avoiding fatty, high calorie foods.

I can tell you that after losing the pounds not only I feel better with more self esteem but I also have more energy, I enjoy being outdoors and playing with my son, I do not feel depressed and even the stress level is less. I am taking my weight loss one pound at the time. I do not want to rush it, because I do not want to gain the weight again. My goal is to still lose at least another 30 pounds and I am sure that doing the changes I am making and continue with my medical check-ups I will be able to get there in a healthy way.

I want to invite you to visit United Health Care Latino and see all the resources available to change the lifestyle. Also check the video below. Learn about good eating habits and exercise

This post has not been compensated. I am writing this to participate on a contest sponsored by UnitedHealthCare to be able to attend Hispanicize 2013.