sillygirl
04-30-2003, 12:37 PM
I have a bit of a problem. This gets a bit lengthy, so I'll try to capture the important parts in bold.
Anyway, I'm a 21 year old girl currently living away from the parents for the first time and heading back to school. I moved out about 5 months ago, 700 miles away, for the first time in my life. Best move I've ever made. :) I'm going to school to eventually obtain an AAS Degree in Human Performance. Basically, I want to work in a gym-type setting and help kids.
I'm just at the beginning of my "journey" and got really serious about working out about a year ago. Until that point, I was not athletic in the slightest. I despised team sports, I hated gym class. I was always encouraged to be smart, not strong or healthy. I always had a mild infatuation with running, but that was never encouraged enough for it to go anywhere.
This was fine and well until I hit the age of 20. While I wasn't overweight, I was 5'3", 125 lbs, and severely out of shape. Couldn't walk up a flight of steps without gasping for air. I felt so out of control, I was depressed [clinical depression runs in my family, including relatives with bouts of being bi-polar, dealing with post-pardum, and ADD], and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I had an "interesting" break-up with a boyfriend and took out with food. I was constantly eating and gained a decent amount of weight in a short period of time- about 15 pounds in only a month or two.
Anyway, I chose then to deal with my emotions in a completely wrong way and then went through a bout of anorexia. I do look back at that point in my life as being very isolated, sad, and depressing , and soon reached an awful 92 lbs.
So there I was, 92 lbs. Weak, frail, and in even [i]worse shape. And even more depressed. However, this is important and it was important for me to go through that. Even though I am ashamed of the pain I caused my family and friends [my grandma basically thought I was going to die...], it took some encouraging words from my very concerned twin sister to try to get healthy again.
It was a long process, but I started at the gym. Of course, if you're still starving yourself and trying to workout, you're not going to get very far. At all. But as I gained the courage and the curiousity of developing my body in a strong & healthy way, I learned that I needed to eat. I needed to eat correctly and I needed to eat well. To make a long story short [in that area haha], I soon fell in love with the gym and weight lifting.
My parents sold my childhood house last fall, and decided to go over the road truck driving together. This was a huge lifestyle change for all of us, and I decided to take it one step further- I had the strength and motivation to move 700 miles away on my own to pursue an education in something I strongly believe in. I want to help other kids become interested in fitness and health at an early enough age so they can incorporate it into their daily lives...for the rest of their lives. Had I been encouraged to be more physically fit, or had I known the proper way to "take control", I believe my bout with disordered eating could have been bypassed a bit. Or it wouldn't have been as extreme.
Of course, other things play into disordered eating. This is the big thing, and my bout with it has helped me understand where it stems from in my family history. My mom [well, my entire family] is a bunch of severe emotional eaters. My mom loves food and has always battled with her weight. While she was meticulous as to not focus on her weight when I was growing up, I saw her go down from a size 20 to a size 14 then bounce back and forth. But I also remember many, many nights when I was growing up of hitting The Olive Garden at 10 at night and stuffing ourselves silly, dealing with stress by inhaling a Whopper [or two] from Burger King, etc etc.
This is the problem. My mom has always been fairly active with her previous careers, but going Over The Road Trucking with my dad has taken a toll on her. She's gained an extreme amount of weight in a short period of time. They spend 12-14 hours a day driving, only to get to a truck stop somewhere and go to sleep. Then they spend the next day the same way. The truck stops are often in areas that they are not familiar with [and are a bit shady], which makes it difficult to get out and exercise. They're sitting on their butts all day long, not being active.
My mom has taken a few weeks off and is staying with me. She keeps expressing a desire to change her habits and lose the weight. I want to help her, but I need some help.
Being a truck driver, what are some decent ways to get my mom back in shape? How can she lose weight in a healthy mannerr? Exercise is *almost* out of the question, so it'll have to be mostly through her eating habits.
What are some meals they can bring over the road? They usually are away from home for 2+ weeks at a time and have a small refrigerator in the cabin of their truck. What are some healthy meals they can prepare to bring with?
I also recommended perhaps taking a 4-5 months off from the OTR Trucking thing and staying home and hitting the gym to get back in shape. Is this a smart idea? I honestly don't know how else she'll do it...
Some background info on my mom- she's about 5'5" and she won't tell me how much she weighs, although I know she's well over a size 16 again. :( She'll be turning 50 this year.
Another tidbit of info- since starting on my path to fitness, my twin sister has also joined in. My twin sister was never ever ever athletic, but started with a few small lifestyle changes such as cutting portion sizes. She soon became more interested and intrigued that I was devoted to going to school for Human Performance and got a pass to the gym. She's now down from a size 8 to a size 2 [at 5'3", we're quite petite] and is even RUNNING! She used to hate running!! And she's building an at-home gym with her husband. She did it the correct and healthy way, and I'm so proud of her! :D
I absolutely love my new lifestyle and honestly believe this is my "goal in life"- to help others with this. I'm still at the beginning of my journey and have so much to learn, but I know what exercise has done for me. It's given me strength, it's made me realize the importance of being healthy, and it's been an AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME help with my depression/anxiety. I still have my 'down' days or moments, but they are very few and far between now. Everytime I think about what I'm going to do with my life, I honestly get so happy and giddy I feel like dancing around, hee hee hee. I know that sounds so dorky, but it's completely true. It's a passion for me and I want to share it with others. I even scored a job at a local rec center working the front desk, so I have my foot in the door! But most importantly, I want to help my mom.
Anyway, I am just really, really worried about her. We went on a jaunt the other day, and she was completely winded about 15 minutes into it. We weren't even walking at what I consider a brisk pace. In fact, I was sprinting back and forth ahead of her. At first I thought, "Wow, I'm really in shape now!" but then I was immediately slammed with the feeling of helplessness. I'm really in shape, but my mom is really out of shape. It's effecting her health. Thanks for reading all of this, and any advice is greatly appreciated. :)
Anyway, I'm a 21 year old girl currently living away from the parents for the first time and heading back to school. I moved out about 5 months ago, 700 miles away, for the first time in my life. Best move I've ever made. :) I'm going to school to eventually obtain an AAS Degree in Human Performance. Basically, I want to work in a gym-type setting and help kids.
I'm just at the beginning of my "journey" and got really serious about working out about a year ago. Until that point, I was not athletic in the slightest. I despised team sports, I hated gym class. I was always encouraged to be smart, not strong or healthy. I always had a mild infatuation with running, but that was never encouraged enough for it to go anywhere.
This was fine and well until I hit the age of 20. While I wasn't overweight, I was 5'3", 125 lbs, and severely out of shape. Couldn't walk up a flight of steps without gasping for air. I felt so out of control, I was depressed [clinical depression runs in my family, including relatives with bouts of being bi-polar, dealing with post-pardum, and ADD], and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I had an "interesting" break-up with a boyfriend and took out with food. I was constantly eating and gained a decent amount of weight in a short period of time- about 15 pounds in only a month or two.
Anyway, I chose then to deal with my emotions in a completely wrong way and then went through a bout of anorexia. I do look back at that point in my life as being very isolated, sad, and depressing , and soon reached an awful 92 lbs.
So there I was, 92 lbs. Weak, frail, and in even [i]worse shape. And even more depressed. However, this is important and it was important for me to go through that. Even though I am ashamed of the pain I caused my family and friends [my grandma basically thought I was going to die...], it took some encouraging words from my very concerned twin sister to try to get healthy again.
It was a long process, but I started at the gym. Of course, if you're still starving yourself and trying to workout, you're not going to get very far. At all. But as I gained the courage and the curiousity of developing my body in a strong & healthy way, I learned that I needed to eat. I needed to eat correctly and I needed to eat well. To make a long story short [in that area haha], I soon fell in love with the gym and weight lifting.
My parents sold my childhood house last fall, and decided to go over the road truck driving together. This was a huge lifestyle change for all of us, and I decided to take it one step further- I had the strength and motivation to move 700 miles away on my own to pursue an education in something I strongly believe in. I want to help other kids become interested in fitness and health at an early enough age so they can incorporate it into their daily lives...for the rest of their lives. Had I been encouraged to be more physically fit, or had I known the proper way to "take control", I believe my bout with disordered eating could have been bypassed a bit. Or it wouldn't have been as extreme.
Of course, other things play into disordered eating. This is the big thing, and my bout with it has helped me understand where it stems from in my family history. My mom [well, my entire family] is a bunch of severe emotional eaters. My mom loves food and has always battled with her weight. While she was meticulous as to not focus on her weight when I was growing up, I saw her go down from a size 20 to a size 14 then bounce back and forth. But I also remember many, many nights when I was growing up of hitting The Olive Garden at 10 at night and stuffing ourselves silly, dealing with stress by inhaling a Whopper [or two] from Burger King, etc etc.
This is the problem. My mom has always been fairly active with her previous careers, but going Over The Road Trucking with my dad has taken a toll on her. She's gained an extreme amount of weight in a short period of time. They spend 12-14 hours a day driving, only to get to a truck stop somewhere and go to sleep. Then they spend the next day the same way. The truck stops are often in areas that they are not familiar with [and are a bit shady], which makes it difficult to get out and exercise. They're sitting on their butts all day long, not being active.
My mom has taken a few weeks off and is staying with me. She keeps expressing a desire to change her habits and lose the weight. I want to help her, but I need some help.
Being a truck driver, what are some decent ways to get my mom back in shape? How can she lose weight in a healthy mannerr? Exercise is *almost* out of the question, so it'll have to be mostly through her eating habits.
What are some meals they can bring over the road? They usually are away from home for 2+ weeks at a time and have a small refrigerator in the cabin of their truck. What are some healthy meals they can prepare to bring with?
I also recommended perhaps taking a 4-5 months off from the OTR Trucking thing and staying home and hitting the gym to get back in shape. Is this a smart idea? I honestly don't know how else she'll do it...
Some background info on my mom- she's about 5'5" and she won't tell me how much she weighs, although I know she's well over a size 16 again. :( She'll be turning 50 this year.
Another tidbit of info- since starting on my path to fitness, my twin sister has also joined in. My twin sister was never ever ever athletic, but started with a few small lifestyle changes such as cutting portion sizes. She soon became more interested and intrigued that I was devoted to going to school for Human Performance and got a pass to the gym. She's now down from a size 8 to a size 2 [at 5'3", we're quite petite] and is even RUNNING! She used to hate running!! And she's building an at-home gym with her husband. She did it the correct and healthy way, and I'm so proud of her! :D
I absolutely love my new lifestyle and honestly believe this is my "goal in life"- to help others with this. I'm still at the beginning of my journey and have so much to learn, but I know what exercise has done for me. It's given me strength, it's made me realize the importance of being healthy, and it's been an AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME help with my depression/anxiety. I still have my 'down' days or moments, but they are very few and far between now. Everytime I think about what I'm going to do with my life, I honestly get so happy and giddy I feel like dancing around, hee hee hee. I know that sounds so dorky, but it's completely true. It's a passion for me and I want to share it with others. I even scored a job at a local rec center working the front desk, so I have my foot in the door! But most importantly, I want to help my mom.
Anyway, I am just really, really worried about her. We went on a jaunt the other day, and she was completely winded about 15 minutes into it. We weren't even walking at what I consider a brisk pace. In fact, I was sprinting back and forth ahead of her. At first I thought, "Wow, I'm really in shape now!" but then I was immediately slammed with the feeling of helplessness. I'm really in shape, but my mom is really out of shape. It's effecting her health. Thanks for reading all of this, and any advice is greatly appreciated. :)