My YMCA Experience

I moved to Chesapeake in 1996 as a single mom with 2 small children. In Chesapeake everyone used the Y for after school daycare. I joined the Greenbrier Y for this purpose. My kids were very happy there after school and during the summer. I picked up a flyer one day for racquetball. I had played as a kid and later as an adult but never took it seriously. I had always liked playing. I joined the racquetball league at the Greenbrier North YMCA and slowly but surely learned how to really play the game thru the players. I was instantly hooked and played almost every day. We had a great group of players who started to go out together and became great friends. This was my home away from home. I played in tournaments and started to travel to Northern VA for State and Regional events and later traveled to North Carolina for their awesome tournaments and great southern hospitality. The staff at the Y were very involved with the racquetball players and events, and took good care of us with the leagues and tournaments at the club.

I have been playing now for 15 years and I still love it.  The friends and experiences I have had thru the Y and racquetball have enriched my life in ways I never could have imagined. This is still my home away from home. I can just walk in at almost any time and get a game, as well as socialize with the regulars and the Y staff. I am now on the board and it gives me great pleasure to participate in the future of my YMCA. They are my second family and joining was one of the best choices I could have ever made for me and my family.

Please join our family and see what a difference it will make in your life.

Living and Loving Racquetball

Fighting The Over Fifty Blues

This is the first in a series of articles that I will write about my experiences trying to lose weight after 50. I have always been a very active, independent woman. I have raised 2 kids as a single mom and all this time I thought I was eating healthy and exercising enough to maintain my weight and size. A few years ago I went up another size which was now two sizes larger than I have been since I was about 30. I stopped wearing anything that was clingy or showed off my belly fat. Thank god smocky shirts came back in style, even though I have always been told that you should not wear big clothes as they make you look bigger, it was still more comfortable for me. I finally got my hormones somewhat under control after  years of unbearable hot flashes, and now it was time to get back to my more desirable size. I started in February of this year and after about 6 months I have lost 20 pounds and enough inches to be able to wear my old clothes very comfortably.  I have even lost weight in my feet and hands which I find incredible.

In the coming articles I will go into much detail about how I did this without killing myself with exercise and giving up all the foods I really enjoyed.  In otherwords making a lifestyle change.
Stay Tuned!!

Happy, Healthy, and Thinner