Well, December 7th I actually finished the Tucson 1/2 Marathon! It was 13.1 miles in 3 hours and 50 minutes! I had expected it would take 4:20 so I was thrilled. The group I started with ended up going on ahead of me, but I am so proud to have finished! The last mile of course was hard and up hill but i started thinking about where I was in December of '07 and how far I have come. I remembered very well the first day i tried to walk 6 miles...i felt so tired and beat...but after 13 I definitely wanted to sit but I could make it through the day!
Since that day I have just had this different feeling about myself - I can do anything! I really want to loose another 70 lbs in the coming year and I know it will be harder as the weight is coming of slower now than it did in the beginning but there are a few things I want to accomplish. I want to start running a bit. Next year I would like to be able to run at least part of the marathon. I have lost enough now that i need new clothes and i want to be able to get to an 18 or 16...that would be so awesome for me.
I have been all the way to a size 28 and now am about a 22. But to actually get to an 18 again would thrill me beyond belief. I actually see it as a possibility now. People have been asking me about my process and I have been very happy to share.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Biggest Loser
I just watched an episode of the Biggest Loser. I really wish I could get myself to go on this show. I started out at a weight higher than all the female contestants this season. It has taken me 11 months to do what they are doing in three. By the end of the season it will be 100 days for the contestants. I'm wondering if that should be a new challenge for me. 100 days of hard core exercise and diet...I have been very good over the past months but these folks are loosing 3-10 lbs per week! I'm lucky to get three lbs a month. The issue is getting the number of hours of exercise but I have really been thinking about trying to run at least part of the 1/2 marathon next year. I haven't even completed this year's event and I am psyched about moving on...
I really want to keep momentum and commitment throughout the coming year and I am worried about loosing ground throughout the Holidays. I don't want to be obsessive but I just don't want to end up back where I started!
I really want to keep momentum and commitment throughout the coming year and I am worried about loosing ground throughout the Holidays. I don't want to be obsessive but I just don't want to end up back where I started!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Excited by exercise...
Now I just love moving my body and I love the changes that my body has gone through. I am a little disappointed that the weight loss has slowed, but I know that I can work through this plateau like all the others....I have to keep looking and the progress.
Because we had been walking so much I had to cut back on workouts...it wasn't that I couldn't do it physically it is just hard to find the hours in the day and because it is winter time the days get dark too soon. I am really excited that starting December 21st we can start looking forward to longer days that will allow longer exercise.
Thanksgiving was a bit of a set back for me. I gained a few pounds and I enjoyed eating so much and it scared me. So today I am doing a fast so that I won't stay on the path of eating too much but I could eat something right now!
Because we had been walking so much I had to cut back on workouts...it wasn't that I couldn't do it physically it is just hard to find the hours in the day and because it is winter time the days get dark too soon. I am really excited that starting December 21st we can start looking forward to longer days that will allow longer exercise.
Thanksgiving was a bit of a set back for me. I gained a few pounds and I enjoyed eating so much and it scared me. So today I am doing a fast so that I won't stay on the path of eating too much but I could eat something right now!
Sticking with the program..
I just kept working out ... although I had agreed to work out 3 times per week I frequently went 4-5 times per week. I was so excited to have found exercise that I actually liked. The instructors at LWE all made impressions on me. They were willing to share my success and they helped me to find ways to change up my workout so that I was working new muscle groups and challenging myself. After my first twelve weeks I just kept trying new things. I have continued the food journal because it keeps me honest.
I never really say I am on a diet. When people ask what I am doing I just say that I am using diet and exercise. But if I want to eat something like chocolate or cake...I eat it and adjust my calories accordingly. I have found that for me it is really hard to stick to 1200 calories. I was fine with 1500 and I do well between 1300-1400 but dropping to 1200 leaves me feeling hungry all the time. I try not to be to hard on myself because the weight has been coming off on a fairly down ward trend. I had to start charting my progress so that I would remind myself that I was really doing well.
The weight came off - Feb 310, mar 295.1, April 292, may, 286, Jun 282, July 275, aug 270, sept 269, Oct 267, Nov 265...
I did things along the way for boosts...in July i did the Firecracker challenge at work. It was a 9 week program where we kept track of weekly exercise and did weekly challenges. It got me over a slow spot.
Then I decided to do a 1/2 marathon. A coworker was putting together a group of runners and walkers to do the Tucson 1/2 marathon so I decided to sign up! We started at 12 week walking program in September. Thanks to my neighbor and her daughter I stayed on schedule. The first time we walked 6 miles at one time I thought I would never make it home.
Then we made 8 miles and that seemed easy. 10 was hard evey time we did it, (we did 10 three times because we were ahead of schedule). We did 11 on a week we wanted to do 13 but my body couldn't take it...I had fallen a few days before and I just wasn't up to it. Now we are on the down side and the marathon is next sunday Dec 7th, '08. I am so excited. I know I can do 13.1 miles and it is amazing to me that just 12 weeks ago four miles was a challenge!
I never really say I am on a diet. When people ask what I am doing I just say that I am using diet and exercise. But if I want to eat something like chocolate or cake...I eat it and adjust my calories accordingly. I have found that for me it is really hard to stick to 1200 calories. I was fine with 1500 and I do well between 1300-1400 but dropping to 1200 leaves me feeling hungry all the time. I try not to be to hard on myself because the weight has been coming off on a fairly down ward trend. I had to start charting my progress so that I would remind myself that I was really doing well.
The weight came off - Feb 310, mar 295.1, April 292, may, 286, Jun 282, July 275, aug 270, sept 269, Oct 267, Nov 265...
I did things along the way for boosts...in July i did the Firecracker challenge at work. It was a 9 week program where we kept track of weekly exercise and did weekly challenges. It got me over a slow spot.
Then I decided to do a 1/2 marathon. A coworker was putting together a group of runners and walkers to do the Tucson 1/2 marathon so I decided to sign up! We started at 12 week walking program in September. Thanks to my neighbor and her daughter I stayed on schedule. The first time we walked 6 miles at one time I thought I would never make it home.
Then we made 8 miles and that seemed easy. 10 was hard evey time we did it, (we did 10 three times because we were ahead of schedule). We did 11 on a week we wanted to do 13 but my body couldn't take it...I had fallen a few days before and I just wasn't up to it. Now we are on the down side and the marathon is next sunday Dec 7th, '08. I am so excited. I know I can do 13.1 miles and it is amazing to me that just 12 weeks ago four miles was a challenge!
January '08
I already had a membership to Ladies Workout Express and so I decided to get my money's work and start going. At the same time I told my daughters we were not going to eat fast food anymore. We could still go out to eat, but it had to be some place that you went in and sat at a table and they cooked your food while you were there...not some place you could drive through. My daughters were not keen on the idea but since money was starting to get tight they went along with it.
After working out for an entire week at LWE...one of the owners Alicia said, "I think you are really serious about this this time...do you want to try our new program?" Alicia told me all about the Skinny Jeans Program - it didn't cost me anything because I already had full membership. All I had to do was commit to working out three times a week and writing down all my calories. I started the journal they gave me. When I started the program I weighed 319...I had lost 10 lbs by not eating fast food so I felt I was on a roll. Alicia told me to shoot for 2000 calories a day and go from there. I started the program, exercising and recording as I was instructed. At the end of the 12 weeks I was down to 1300 calories a day and I weighed 295.1!
I was so thrilled with my weight loss....a few people noticed but mostly I was just so proud.
After working out for an entire week at LWE...one of the owners Alicia said, "I think you are really serious about this this time...do you want to try our new program?" Alicia told me all about the Skinny Jeans Program - it didn't cost me anything because I already had full membership. All I had to do was commit to working out three times a week and writing down all my calories. I started the journal they gave me. When I started the program I weighed 319...I had lost 10 lbs by not eating fast food so I felt I was on a roll. Alicia told me to shoot for 2000 calories a day and go from there. I started the program, exercising and recording as I was instructed. At the end of the 12 weeks I was down to 1300 calories a day and I weighed 295.1!
I was so thrilled with my weight loss....a few people noticed but mostly I was just so proud.
Where I Started
I began this journey last January ('08). I knew that my life was loosing meaning and I needed to find out who I was. Over my lifetime weight has continued to be an issue for me...I would often loose 40 lbs, then gain 60 lbs...on and on throughout my adult life. My weight fluctuated with life events but the trend was always up. by January '08 I weighed 329 lbs.
My sister had gastric bypass surgery and that is something I had thought about for many years; in fact I think I might have suggested it to her...she lost 150 lbs. throughout the year following her surgery and I was so proud of her. But seeing her deal with needing to learn how to eat and exercise and really change her life made me wonder what I could accomplish if I really tried to work on myself for a year.
I was okay with who I was, but I never saw myself as overweight unless I thought about how other people saw me. Individuals would confuse my name with other overweight people. Overweight individuals would assume that I was "okay" with talking about my weight because I was obviously overweight. When I saw on my medical records - (morbidly obese) - I was devastated.
My sister had gastric bypass surgery and that is something I had thought about for many years; in fact I think I might have suggested it to her...she lost 150 lbs. throughout the year following her surgery and I was so proud of her. But seeing her deal with needing to learn how to eat and exercise and really change her life made me wonder what I could accomplish if I really tried to work on myself for a year.
I was okay with who I was, but I never saw myself as overweight unless I thought about how other people saw me. Individuals would confuse my name with other overweight people. Overweight individuals would assume that I was "okay" with talking about my weight because I was obviously overweight. When I saw on my medical records - (morbidly obese) - I was devastated.
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