FitLifeSF

Meet Trish, a friend of ours from Karaoke. Trish is a rockin’ chick (so much so that she and her boyfriend adopted my dearheart, Guillermo P. Meowmix when Rob’s allergies stood in the way of our co-habitation.) She sings in a band, Psychokitty, of which Dave is also a member. She’s got a great life, but one problem- her low energy and weight are keeping her from performing at her best. And then there’s the matter of a killer pair of custom-made leather pants that she really wants to get back into. About a month ago, she approached me and Rob with a challenge- “You tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. I want you guys to whip me into shape.” So starts the journey we are calling “Project Trish.”

In today’s entry, we’ll hear from Trish how she got to this place. In future entries, you’ll hear more details on what kind of a program Trish is on and what successes and challenges she is facing along the way. There will be standard blog entries, videos, and more. We hope you’ll find in Trish’s story the inspiration to start on your own journey to wellness.

Click through to read Trish’s first entry, “How Did I Get Here?”

——-

Well, how did I get here?

The immortal words by David Byrne that most adults ask from time to time.

In this context, the question is- how did I get to be so overweight and out of shape? The answer has to be honest in order for the journey to start and expectations to be authentic.

I was overweight for several years in my 20′s. Basically, I’m an emotional eater and turned to food for solace after something traumatizing happened that I was ill-prepared for and had no one to really talk to about it. I internalized my pain and gained a lot of weight. There came a point, after a messy divorce when I decided that I needed to be the priority in my own life and threw myself into a healthier lifestyle and the weight came off. I kept it off with little trouble for about 4 or 5 years, then in 2003, disaster struck.

I herniated 3 discs in my back and couldn’t work. Couldn’t do much of anything, really. I was in so much pain and did not have a complete diagnosis for about a year and a half. In that time, I hibernated in my room, coming out for doctors appointments and that’s about it. It was a very dark time for me- I was used to being active and since I was in sales, I had always been around people. Now I really didn’t want to talk to anyone. I withdrew. I didn’t really put on weight for the first couple of years.

Then, my doctor told me he wanted to give me an epidural- and all I could think of was that was what women in labor were given: great, sign me up!! I told my doctor at the time that if he could make me pain free for 24 hours, I would love him forever. That’s how bad it was. They did the first series- now I looked up these injections and the ones I found were not the ones I had- for mine, I was taken to the surgical wing and knocked out. I was just like any other surgical procedure and I’d be at the hospital for a good portion of the day. Anyway, the first one helped my lower back/hip area immediately but I still experienced a lot of pain in the thoracic and cervical area- so they did it again. Then again. Three times in 3-4 months.

I started to put on weight. I upped my walking. My pants kept getting tighter. When I had a follow up visit with the doc, I mentioned this to him, and he told me it was because of the steroids. WHAT?! I didn’t know it was steroids! I would rather have stayed in pain, frankly. I knew that I had this response to steroids: I gained 20 lbs on Prednisone in less than a month! But the deed had already been done: I had steroids injected into my back. I did try to up my activity, and eat more salads and such, but I kept getting bigger and bigger until I was a size 18; prior to that I had been a size 8-10. In about 7 months.

In all honesty, it wasn’t all steroids; after my years of inactivity I don’t think I had any metabolism at all. I had spent most of that time in bed. And when I did try to keep it off and was unsuccessful, I eventually gave up. And as unhappy as I have been since putting on the weight, it has been easy to coast and use my medical history as an excuse to eat what I want, when I want, with no exercise and no accountability. I have been afraid to try; afraid to fail. I know the commitment it takes to lose this kind of weight. But every day I don’t try is another day I’m not happy about the way I look, I’m depressed about the way I feel.

Then one day I looked in the mirror and I’m now a size 22 and I ask myself “well, how did I get here. And what do I do about it”. It seems overwhelming. There is so much to lose, so much to do.

So I challenged Rob and Heather: help me. Put your skills to work… and I’ll do my part. I have a lot of work to do. Hopefully, I’ll have a lot of support through this website, and one thing I really need: accountability. If you know me, I hope that the next time you see me, you’ll see less of me. Actually, I’m counting on it.