My Journey

One year ago today, I started on this journey. I didn’t know where it was going to take me, I had no idea I’d end up here…but I took that first step and started. It was that low point where you just know you NEED to do something, I was sick of feeling like crap every night when I went to bed, sick of putting clothes on in my closet that were too tight and refused to go buy bigger clothes. It was just time to make a change. And all I thought that day, was what do I have to lose. Luckily it worked, and it worked right away, the weight melted off, I was almost 30 lbs lighter within two months, it was incredible, each week another 2-3 pounds were just gone and all I had to do was do it. Granted the first 2 weeks or so I was a little hungry, but as soon as my body adjusted I was fine and am barely hungry anymore (unless it’s before a meal). It did slow down after the first 30 pounds as expected, but it still kept coming off and I just kept doing it EVERY day, whether something special was going on or I didn’t feel like it that day. I coasted through Thanksgiving without a single pound gained, made it through Christmas, even lost a little. Then the plateau hit, and this is when a lot of people just quit. I kept going, I knew that this worked and that it wouldn’t just stop working. I upped my exercise. It worked, another 10 came off. Then I hit another plateau, where I’ve mostly been sitting for 5 months, yes FIVE months. But I have still logged on EVERY single day and counted EVERY single calorie and exercised 5-6 days a week. And FINALLY .8 lbs dropped off (just over 50 lbs lost now). It does work. It’s like so much in life, you just have to show up. Work, show up. School, show up. Show up, do your best and it will work. A lot of my friends and family have jumped on the wagon with me, which has been so wonderful to have a support system to do it with, but watching them fall off has been heartbreaking. I know I can only do this for me but I want them to experience what I’ve experienced. I feel stronger than ever, more confident and just GOOD. I’m not as tired, I don’t get headaches and I just don’t have to worry as much about future health problems. One of my big reasons for getting started was my family heath history. 3 Grandparents with heart problems, 3 with diabetes, both parents with diabetes….I don’t want to end up with ANY of it. I want to be around a LONG time and be there for my daughter. I wish I could instill in the people who don’t think it works the ability to see that it does, that it’s not a magic pill, it’s not your significant other doing it with you, it’s all inside of YOU. My husband was blessed with excellent healthy genes & has been fortunate to be thin his entire life so far, so I had to be strong going out to eat when he could eat an entire plate of burger and fries and only eat my half. He has been supportive, but he hasn’t done any of it with me. I’ve heard about every excuse in the book from people who have ‘tried’ it and given up. But I’m here to say it does work and the people who just stick with it, have seen results. And I have a select group of friends who have stuck with it and their results are so amazing!
Now, I’m proud to say that I’ve signed up for my very first half marathon. This from the girl who thought running was never going to be something I could do. Is going to try to run 13.1 miles. I’ve run into speed bumps, literally, but I’m not giving up on it either. The first few weeks it was HARD and uncomfortable and I felt like I couldn’t breathe right, but then it just got better, the runs got easier, and the feelings afterwards: Amazing! And just went I starting getting into it, a darn stress fracture! So now, I have to readjust again. But I’m not losing sight of the end goal and I am determined to still run that ½ in August. And one of my biggest accomplishments so far was hearing my five year old tell me that she was “training” when she was biking one day, being her role model and a good one is what I strive for.
One of my biggest fears is that I’ll lose this compassion and the drive to keep doing it and get back to where I was, but day by day I gain confidence that I can just keep going, and showing up and doing it. And now that I’ve hit one year, I feel a little more confident about that too.

Thanks for listening to my story!