Customcasket
New member
- Aug 24, 2011
- 536
- Media
- 1
- 1
- Parrots
- Female Dusky Conure (Kayak) Female Sun Conure (Carlisle) Female Budgie (Meister) Male Budgie (Spooky Burd)
So, to make a long story short I packed on almost 80 pounds within a couple years. Laziness, eating habits, genetics and medication all contributed to the weight gain. I realized I couldn't keep going the way I was. I couldn't walk up 3 flights of stairs to a classroom without getting totally winded. When people see me they can't tell that I packed on the weight. It's hidden quite well. I'm tall and most of the weight went to my stomach and thighs. I tell them how much I weigh and I get a shocked look and a "NO WAY!" from them. My back issues are definitely much improved since losing some of the weight and my knees don't creak and pop as much. I don't have to be skinny, I just want to be healthy. Genetics are quite cruel on both sides of my family. Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, and some other not so fun ailments are on both sides. I don't need extra weight to move those issues along. This is my story so far of the birds "helping" me get my butt back into better shape.
I slowly changed my diet in December and lost almost 20 pounds so far just by changing my eating habits. That was so hard for me. I LOVE my junk food and chocolate. Mmmmm chocolate... Now I find myself asking "Should I be eating this? How would I feel if one of the birds tried to steal a bite of this? Would I feed them this?" and that has changed what I eat in my daily diet. I love to snack while I read, so now instead of eating junk food and reading I'll eat some sort of veggie or fruit and read my book. I still have a 60 pounds to lose to get back to the weight I'd like to be at, but realistically I would like to lose another 40 or so pounds and get back to a weight within a healthy range for my height. My doctor has been quite pleased at the weight I've lost and my blood pressure has gone down. Changing my diet wasn't enough to lose the weight I wanted to. I knew I'd need to exercise and I wasn't too happy about that idea.
I dusted off the exercise bike that was in the basement and started using that along with other exercises. The birds are almost always included in my exercises. They're great motivation when I'm doing my squats. I have Carlisle on one hand and Kayak on the other. I can't let my arms drop or else the birds fall off. My brother witnessed this a few nights ago for the first time and just shook his head and walked away saying something about "Why am I not surprised you included the dumb birds when you exercise?!" He hates the birds and the birds hate him. The birds keep me company while I ride my stationary bike. Somebody sits on my shoulder and screams in my ear while the other sits on the handlebars giving me dirty looks because they're not the one on my shoulder. It's nice to have company while exercising. I listen to my music and hang out with the birds. They don't care that I'm exercising, they just care that they're getting attention and are with me.
Well, that's my adventure so far. The habit change was quite a bit difficult but once I got into the swing of things it got much easier. When I changed my eating habits it rubbed off on my father a bit. I'm glad it did. He's at a very high risk for developing diabetes and already has really bad arthritis that has recently been calmed somewhat with Humira. He's lost 10 pounds since changing his diet. We eat a lot more veggies and fruits and less snacks and processed... crap. Crap is a good word to describe what we were eating. Tonight for dinner we had salads and a bit of leftover BBQ chicken from the other night. 6 months ago if I would've suggested a salad for dinner he would've laughed at me and told me "I'm not a damn rabbit!" and eaten whatever. I always had the fruits and veggies in the house for the birds but I never ate them myself with any regularity. Now I eat pretty much what the birds do (aside from their pellet
) and couldn't be happier.
I slowly changed my diet in December and lost almost 20 pounds so far just by changing my eating habits. That was so hard for me. I LOVE my junk food and chocolate. Mmmmm chocolate... Now I find myself asking "Should I be eating this? How would I feel if one of the birds tried to steal a bite of this? Would I feed them this?" and that has changed what I eat in my daily diet. I love to snack while I read, so now instead of eating junk food and reading I'll eat some sort of veggie or fruit and read my book. I still have a 60 pounds to lose to get back to the weight I'd like to be at, but realistically I would like to lose another 40 or so pounds and get back to a weight within a healthy range for my height. My doctor has been quite pleased at the weight I've lost and my blood pressure has gone down. Changing my diet wasn't enough to lose the weight I wanted to. I knew I'd need to exercise and I wasn't too happy about that idea.
I dusted off the exercise bike that was in the basement and started using that along with other exercises. The birds are almost always included in my exercises. They're great motivation when I'm doing my squats. I have Carlisle on one hand and Kayak on the other. I can't let my arms drop or else the birds fall off. My brother witnessed this a few nights ago for the first time and just shook his head and walked away saying something about "Why am I not surprised you included the dumb birds when you exercise?!" He hates the birds and the birds hate him. The birds keep me company while I ride my stationary bike. Somebody sits on my shoulder and screams in my ear while the other sits on the handlebars giving me dirty looks because they're not the one on my shoulder. It's nice to have company while exercising. I listen to my music and hang out with the birds. They don't care that I'm exercising, they just care that they're getting attention and are with me.
Well, that's my adventure so far. The habit change was quite a bit difficult but once I got into the swing of things it got much easier. When I changed my eating habits it rubbed off on my father a bit. I'm glad it did. He's at a very high risk for developing diabetes and already has really bad arthritis that has recently been calmed somewhat with Humira. He's lost 10 pounds since changing his diet. We eat a lot more veggies and fruits and less snacks and processed... crap. Crap is a good word to describe what we were eating. Tonight for dinner we had salads and a bit of leftover BBQ chicken from the other night. 6 months ago if I would've suggested a salad for dinner he would've laughed at me and told me "I'm not a damn rabbit!" and eaten whatever. I always had the fruits and veggies in the house for the birds but I never ate them myself with any regularity. Now I eat pretty much what the birds do (aside from their pellet
) and couldn't be happier.
