A salute to the healthy lifestyle change for Dr. Shirley Claborn

On that morning in late March, I stood in front of the mirror with my blood pressure pill in my hand and was disgusted. “What are you doing?” I thought to myself. “You are taking blood pressure medicine everyday, your cholesterol is high, and now your sugar is high. You can’t play in the yard with your kids because you get out of breath too easy. You have sleep apnea because you are overweight. You are doing exactly what you tell your patients not to do. You are killing yourself with food and inactivity. AND you are only 40 years old.” And I am a doctor for crying out loud. I sit in the office and tell patients that they need to exercise and make better food choices. I’m sure some of them thought, practice what you preach. I’m not sure why it happened on that day, but it really hit home.

Then came the hard question. “What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do differently than you have before today?” That was a hard question because changing your lifestyle and losing weight is hard. Honestly, it is probably one of the hardest things that I had ever done. I had followed Weight Watchers in the past and did well with it. I had tried adipex. I had tried other dietary supplements to help suppress my appetite and lose weight. They all worked in the beginning, but then it all came back. It came back because there is no quick fix. There is no magic pill or diet plan that would take the weight off and keep it off. The cold facts were that I had to want better health enough to put in a lot of sweat and pain. Period.

That day I signed up for Weight Watchers online. There is nothing magic about Weight Watchers. It simply holds me accountable. It is designed to steer people in the direction of healthier food choices and reasonable portion sizes. I texted my sister to tell her what I had done and I am sure she probably thought, “I’ve heard this before.” I had complained for years about being overweight, but didn’t do anything about it.

As I counted my points and logged everything I ate, I also cut out most of my soda. I ate so much fruit. It is a little surprising that I haven’t turned into a mango this summer. I started walking at the park. It was spring, little league was in full swing and I had no excuses. The park is a perfect place to walk and let the kids play. I am thankful that I had some walking partners who would hang with me and walk four miles most days. At my first weigh-in a week later, I had lost four pounds. I was ecstatic. It was definitely a move in the right direction. As the weeks have gone on, sometimes the scale goes down one pound, sometimes only 0.2 pounds, but it has steadily gone down. It has also gotten much hotter outside in those weeks. I could have easily given up and said well I can’t exercise anymore. And I have done that before. But I decided to renew my membership to the wellness center and start walking there. I remembered a program that my friend had told me about called 5K runner. Now, you have to understand that I had always told people that if they saw me running they better fall in too, because there was something really bad chasing me. My thinking had changed and I started toying with the idea of running a 5K without having to walk. I talked a co-worker into training with me.

Through all of this time, the pounds are coming off and I am getting stronger, but even more than that, I feel 100percent better. I have more energy, am more alert, and don’t feel sluggish midday. I can play in the yard with my kids and enjoy myself instead of worrying about having to have CPR. I am not completely running a 5K yet, but I am much closer than when I started in March.

Since March 27, I have lost 35 pounds, my cholesterol is below 200, my sugar is normal again, and I am no longer taking blood pressure medicine. There are a few things responsible for my success. First, I pray every morning for God to give me strength to make the right choices that day. Second, I decided my health was important. I decided that my children deserve a healthy mother to hopefully be around for a long time. Third, I have an amazing support system, which includes my workout partner. She makes me accountable; I can’t really skip the gym if I know she is going to be there waiting on me. Third, I see my children watching me. Let’s face it, they were watching my bad habits and developing them also. So I was actually hurting them along with myself. Lastly, I was seeing results. The more results that I see, the more that I want and the more that I believe I can do this.

I have not met my goal yet. I want to have a normal BMI (body mass index). I also want to run the Foothills 5K without walking part of it. But regardless of meeting my goal, I can still look in that same mirror everyday and be proud of myself for making the change for a healthier me. Has it been easy? No. Have I wanted to give up some days? Absolutely. Has it been worth it? You better believe it. But it can’t stop when I run that 5K or when I get to my goal weight. It has to be a lifelong change for a better me.

The last thing that I will say about this process is this: I did this for my children but most of all I did it for me. Anytime you make a lifestyle change to be healthier, it has to be for you. You have to do it for yourself, no one else. Other people will reap some of the benefits of a healthier you, but the primary reason for your change has to be for yourself. Now, get moving!

Dr. Shirley Claborn

For more information please contact April Speck, Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coordinator at 606-387-2051 or april.speck@clinton.kyschools.us

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