Weeks 21 and 22

The good news is Briana lost another two pounds. She is down to 197 pounds for a total weightloss of 30 pounds!

The not so good news is that week 21 was a rough week for Briana. After the weigh in, she worked hard and did a wonderful job. Then, by the time I saw her again on Friday she was complaining about her shoulder. Anytime she tried to move her arm, I could see the pain on her face and she would say "Ow!" At one point, she looked like she might cry. I asked her if she had fallen or done anything to injure herself. "I don't know. It just hurts." She tried telling me that she would be fine, but I insisted that she take it easy that day. I didn't want to push her or aggravate her shoulder, so I told her we would do all of the leg exercises and let her shoulder rest. Although the workout wasn't our most productive, it was better than nothing. More importantly, Briana seemed to feel successful. I sent her home with some ibuprofen and instructions to rest her arm and ice it over the weekend.

By the time Briana came back on Tuesday, everything was better. Her shoulder had no pain at all, she was feeling better, and her mood was lifted. During her treadmill warm up, I told Briana that we would start walking more now that the weather was getting nice again. I told her that Wednesdays would be our walking day. She was apprehensive and doubtful. She didn't like the idea of walking outside for some reason. I assured her that we would start with a short distance then increase over time. It took some gentle coaxing,but she finally agreed to try it.

When she arrived on Wednesday, the weather was perfect. Briana told me that she wanted to walk by herself. I explained that it was my responsibility to make sure she was okay and that I needed to go with her. She was not happy. Knowing how important her independence is to her, I agreed to let her walk ahead of me. I lingered behind her, close enough to hear her cheering herself on, "Come on. You can do it. You're almost there."

Listening to her made me smile. Every so often she would wave her hand back to me and say, "You stay there. I'm doing this myself."

When she made it to the end of the street, I caught up with her to see how she was feeling.

"I feel good! I did it myself," she said.

"Yes, Briana, you did it yourself. I am very proud of you," I assured her.

She took a deep breath then turned around to walk back to my house. Again, I lingered behind and let her walk ahead. The entire walk was less than a quarter mile and took about ten minutes. I was pleased with her effort and told her it was a great start.

"Next time, we are going to walk a little further. Then each time after that, we will walk a little further," I told her.

"Okay. I need some water now," she replied.

Her reply made me happy. When Briana agrees to do something, I know she will do it. So I gave her a water bottle, and we headed downstairs to finish the rest of our workout.

Hooray for Briana, and hooray for Week 22! We are back in business!

Week 20

It was time to change up Briana's routine. After observing her for a full week, I realized that her workout consisted mostly of upper body exercises. Although I had a few lower body strength exercises plus the cardio intervals to work her legs, I felt like she needed to be challenged and pushed to do more leg work. With her increased sense of balance and agility, I knew she could handle more at this point.

On Tuesday, I told Briana that we were going to add three new exercisies to her routine.

"Oh good," she replied in a way that told me she was ready for the challenge.

As she warmed up on the treadmill, I told her we were going to add more exercises for her legs so that she could get even stronger than she is now. She was excited and happy to hear this news. Right away, she began to talk about the fashion show. "I am definitely going to be in it now. I can't wait!"

The first exercise we added was on the reformer. After her footwork, I taught her "reach and pull." Although this is technically an arm exercise in Pilates, I had to combine it with legs for Briana. I increased the resistance for her so that she could pull with her arms and push with her legs at the same time. She found the timing and coordination to be awkward and became frustrated several times. I only had her try five repetitions knowing that we would smooth it out over time. Regardless of the agitation she verbalized on the reformer ("I HATE this, I'm not doing it. You cant make me.") while doing the exercise, she was more than pleased with her effort when she was done and standing next to the machine. I just chuckled and gave her a hgh five.

The next exercise we added came after her standing strength and cardio intervals. I showed her how to hold the weights in her hand and do squats to make her legs strong. "Oh. I got it," she said. She took the weights from me and did her squats. I tried to correct her because she was going really fast and locking her knees. I didn't want her to hurt herself.

"Oh be quiet. Leave me alone," she grouched. Now I knew she was working outside her comfort zone, exactly where I wanted her. I smiled and kept quiet and each time she did the exercise correctly, I simply said "Wow!" This was enough to encourage her without agitating her. Plus, it helped her self correct her form.

The final exercise we added was leg raises with ankle weights. While laying on her back, Briana had to lift her leg with a five pound weight wrapped around her ankle. She asked me to hold her hand, so I did. I encouraged her as she started and I could tell it was a challenge for her. She was determined to finish and was proud of herself when she did. She was able to do ten raises on each leg. I felt like this was a great start.

I feel optimistic about this week's workout. I am impressed with Briana's dedication and commitment. I know she will continue to make progress, and I know she will accomplish her goal. I am happy and thankful that I get to be there every step of the way.

Week 19

Briana has broken into the 100s! As of this week's weigh-in, she is 199 pounds! As always, she was excited and nervous about her weigh in. Once she heard the news, she exclaimed, "I am going to be in the fashion show for sure!"

Every year, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation hosts a fundraiser and fashion show. The show features a designer line with paid models, then features models who have Down Syndrome. The fashion show is an exciting event for the men, women, girls and boys who are selected to be models. It is a great honor to be in the show, which takes place in the fall. Last October, before beginning her weight loss journey, Briana attended the fashion show as guest. At that time, she weighed too much and was too big to fit into the clothes. She was happy to be a guest, but she really wanted to be a model. Since October, Briana's goal has been to be in the fashion show. Her motivation to lose weight comes from her drive to succeed and have the opportunity to be up on stage this fall.

"When I'm in the fashion show, I am going to have my whole family come up on stage so everyone can see how much I love them," Briana told me as she did her warm up on the treadmill.

"That will be wonderful, Briana. They will all be so proud of you."

Briana beamed from ear to ear and finished her warm up without a complaint. She was happy to start her workout and gave it her all. I cheered her on and encouraged her when it got tough. She finished strong and told me she would see me next time. As I hugged her goodbye and helped her out the door, I couldn't help but think how much I love Weigh Day.

Weeks 17 & 18

I have never seen anyone look forward to getting weighed the way Briana does. On "weigh day" as we now call it, she is always in good spirits. It's like she knows she will be getting good news and can't wait to hear how good it really it is. Weigh in after weigh in, she is never disappointed. This week was no exception. After two weeks, Briana lost another four pounds! This brings her total weight loss to 26 pounds! Her starting weight was 227 pounds and her current weight is 201 pounds. At this rate, she is more than half way to our initial goal of a 50 pound weight loss.

Aside from successful weigh ins, Briana is doing great things in her workouts. She is now comfortable on the reformer and we are slowly adding in new exercises. I do my best to keep most of the exercises familiar so that she doesn't feel overwhelmed as I continue to challenge her and push her past her comfort zone. She is doing her strength work at home twice a day on the days I don't get to work with her. She even does them in the morning before she goes to her program on some weekdays. She seems to be dedicated and is always happy to tell me what she has done at home.

Briana is also making good food choices. She doesn't ask my permission for cake or treats anymore. Instead, she tells me "I'm not going to eat it anymore. I'm not."

Briana and I began this weight loss adventure with nothing more than will and desire. Neither of us knew how it would turn out. To be perfectly honest, I was more worried than confident when we had our first session. I believe she was, too. I had to work hard to gain her trust, to bring up her confidence and build her endurance. Now that she trusts me and has more strength, I believe there is nothing she can't do. In fact, I believe that by the end of the year, Briana will have surpassed her goal of 50 pounds. I believe she can get her weight down to 150 pounds, which is truly a healthy weight for her height. Call me crazy, but I have faith!

Week 16

Briana learned a new exercise this week!

I have been waiting for the right time to introduce the Pilates reformer to Briana. Unlike the tower, which is stable, the reformer is unstable. On the reformer, there is a small mat (a bit less than three feet in length) that is connected to springs and glides back and forth. I knew that the movement of the mat would be challenging because Briana would need strength to be able to shift her weight and move into position correctly. The small surface means that coordination and control are necessary to simply get on the mat before starting any of the exercises. If Briana got scared or frustrated and lost control, she would be at risk of falling off the side of the mat and injuring herself and me.

Getting off the reformer is even more challenging. To get up, Briana needs abdominal strength and the ability to sit up without assistance. As the she sits up, she must have the strength to pull her body weight onto the mat or she will fall into the springs. Although I am there to assist her, she needs to be able to support the majority of her body weight in order to be successful and prevent injury. From start to finish, Briana would need to have concentration, control, will, and desire in order to succeed and keep us both safe.

After observing the amazing progress Briana has had during our first three months of training, I knew she was ready for the challenge. She has demonstrated that she can support her body weight and she has more strength and control than she did when I first started working with her. She is able to sit herself up without my help now and she is focused. When she understands what is coming, she is committed to success. Knowing this, the first thing I wanted to do was get Briana excited about learning the new exercise. I showed her the exercise in January and told her I was excited to teach it to her in February. Each time I saw her, we talked about the new exercise. By the end of January, she was looking forward to it. She even reminded me the week before that she would be learning the new exercise the next week. By the time the day came to learn the exercise, Briana was excited and eager.

We talked about the exercise while she did her warm up on the treadmill. I told her that I would teach her the new exercise first before we did the rest of our workout. I wanted to make sure that her attention was fresh and that her body was not fatigued when she learned it. When she finished her warm up, I demonstrated the exercise once more and told her everything I was doing as I did it. I showed her how the mat moves and told her not to worry if it moved when she sat down. I showed her how she would need to sit up carefully when she was finished and to make sure she stayed on the mat.

"So that's it?" she asked.

"Yes, that's it, Briana," I replied. "I am here to help you. I know you can do this."

There was some trial error helping Briana onto the reformer. It took time for her to feel secure in laying down and placing her body just right on the mat. The third attempt was a success and there was only one moment of frustration. Once she was in position, I gave her time to recover and feel comfortable. She then placed her feet on the foot bar and pushed the mat out with her legs.

"Look! I'm doing it!" she exclaimed.

"You are doing it! What do you think?" I asked.

"I love it! Oh, this is nice! My mom is going to be so proud!"

She completed ten repetitions. I gave her time to recover once more, then I reminded her how she needed to be careful getting up. Again, it took us a few tries, but in the end she was successful! She used her strength. She stayed focused and in control, and when she got frustrated she didn't give up.

So this week's accomplishment marks the beginning of a new chapter for Briana. As her strength and focus continue to increase, I will continue to introduce new and more challenging exercises. I am confident that will she achieve her weightloss goal of 50 pounds. Even more than that, I know that she will be stronger, more agile and coordinated when the year ends.

Week 15

If I were to pick one word for Briana this week, it would be "consistent." She continues to ahcieve steady weightloss, losing an average of one and a half pounds each week. When she weighed in on Tuesday, she was down another three pounds. Briana's current weight is 204 pounds, a total weightloss of 23 pounds! If she continues at this pace, she will be half way to her weightloss goal of 50 pounds in just three more weeks!

After this week's weigh-in, Briana began her warm up on the treadmill. Now that I don't have to stand by her side and hold her back and cheer her on to keep her going, I am able to sit where she can see me and have conversations with her. Rather than leading the conversations, I like to wait and see what is on Briana's mind. This week, she was very interested in talking about food choices.

"We are having a potluck at my program tomorrow," she started.

"A potluck?" I asked.

"Yes, and I was wondering if I could take some applesauce as my snack."

"Well, what kinds of foods are other people bringing?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Probably treats and cookies and stuff like that. I won't eat it. I promise. Can I just take applesauce for myself?"

"So you're asking if you can pack applesauce in your lunch box and eat that at the potluck instead of eating unhealthy foods?" I confirmed.

"Yes. Would that be alright with you? I just wanted to ask," she said.

"Briana, I think that is a fabulous idea! You can definitely have applesauce as a snack at the potluck. Thank you for checking," I replied.

Smiling, Briana said "Yep! Now I'm done. Come press stop."

And she was done. She had reached ten minutes and 12 seconds on the treadmill. I pushed stop, helped her off the treadmill, gave her some water and let her recover before we started the next segment of exercises.

As we began her Pilates exercises, I let Briana know how proud I was of her for thinking ahead. Making healthy food choices is not always easy. I have come to realize that it is especially difficult for Briana. It seems that she is always celebrating something at her program. They have parties quite often and have treats even more often. When she refuses, they still serve her. She eats what she is given then feels guilty and tells me about it when I see her. I feel proud that she is already thinking ahead and making a plan for the potluck. Many people could benefit from following her example. I tell her throughout the workout that I am so impressed and so proud of her.

In addition to taking a major leap forward with food choices, Briana also had a big achievement in her Pilates work this week. She has been working on an exercise called arm circles. In this exercise, Briana lies on her back and puts her hands in two seperate straps. The straps are attached to springs. When she pushes the straps down toward her hips, the springs add resistance and make the movement more challenging. Being able to push into the springs requires strength and concentration.

In arm circles, the goal is to circle the arms through the air, push into the springs toward the hips, then return to the starting position with control. Briana has successfully made the circling motion using her hands rather than her arms. This week, for the first time, she was able to make the circle with her arms and actually push into the springs! Needless to say, when I called attention to her achievement, she just beamed. She repeated the movement over and over again, delighting in her newly discovered ability and proving that consistency really does pay off.

Week 14

As usual, Briana arrives in a great mood. She is happy to see me and gives me a hug. As we head downstairs, I comment on how she is practically taking the stairs all by herself now. I ask her if she remembers how much I used to help her on the stairs and she says, "Yep!"

Once we get downstairs, she knows exactly what to do. Today she says, "I'm going to do the treadmill all by myself."

"Okay, Briana, do you want me to help you get started?"

"Nope. I'm going to do it all by myself. You go do something, and I will surprise you."

I couldn't help but feel apprehensive and excited at the same time. This would be a huge accomplishment for Briana. She always gets a little upset when the treadmill first starts up because it goes a bit fast then slows down. She always wants to make sure that I'm there to hold her back, and she always tells me how much she hates it when it goes fast. Once it steadies out, she is fine and is able to continue on her own. So for her to press start and get going completely on her own, she would be addressing a fear. I want this for her, but I also want to make sure she stays safe. What if she falls? What if she gets hurt? This would set us back and create more fear for her.

I realize that I am worried for no good reason. Briana has never showed signs of falling off the treadmill. She has never come anywhere close to stumbling. Today, coming down the stairs, she showed how much her balance has improved. She is moving around easily and independently. So, I decide to have faith. I trust that she will be okay.

I walk to the other side of the room and pretend to do some computer work. She gets onto the treadmill easily. She holds onto the rails. Aloud, she gives herself some encouragement "You can do this." She takes one hand off the rail, presses 1 then start. (She has watched me do this dozens of times, so I knew she would know how to start it). She holds on tight and she is fine, perfectly fine! I breathe a sigh of relief, wait about two minutes, then go over to talk to her. She is happy and chatty during her ten minute warm up, so I assume the rest of the workout can only go uphill.

At the fifteen minute mark, Briana's attitude takes a u-turn. She becomes more than agitated. She seems angry. She snaps at me. She tells me to leave her alone. She says she wants to go home. She stops and says I can't make her do anything. I say, "Briana, you are right. I can't make you do anything you don't want to do. But I know you want to do this, so I will just sit here and wait until you are ready."

"No. Don't do that. Take me home this minute." And she sits down on the mat, crosses her arms firmly and looks the other way. I sit near her and stare at the floor. I realize that we are now in a stand-off. Luckily, God has blessed me with tremendous patience. So, I sit and wait while Briana talks aloud "I'm not doing it. Yes, you are. No, I'm not." She has this conversation several times with herself.

When I least expect it, she jumps up and picks up where she left off. When she completes the set, I compliment her. "Just leave me alone," she says and plops herself down on the bench again.

"Okay," I say. "You know what comes next. You can get started when you're ready."

"Just leave me alone. Just take me home this minute," she argues.

"Briana, your mom will be here at the end of your workout. I am not taking you home. You are here to work. Why are you so upset all of the sudden?"

"I don't know. I just want to go home."

Well, she didn't go home, and she did get up and finish her workout. By the time she reached the final exercise, her mood was great again. By the time she was on the treadmill for her ten minute ending, she was chatty again. I am still unsure what set her off. I wonder if possibly the huge accomplishment she had at the beginning of her workout (getting started on the treadmill all by herself) zapped her energy? I will watch to see if this is a pattern.

Perhaps on days when Briana achieves a milestone or makes big progress, I need to tone everything else down. I will certainly be as sensitive as I can to make sure she continues to succeed. For now, I'm simply grateful that we have made it through this day. She tells me to wait while she goes upstairs. By the time I go up, she is out the door and halfway to the car. I wave at her mom and say "Goodbye, Briana. You did great today. I will see you tomorrow."