Five Months - 23 Pounds... with lotsa photos!

LorinaLynn · May 2011

It started with vodka.

December 11, 2010. An early Christmas party at my niece's house. I was drunk. Very drunk. And a friend of my niece was talking about some crazy-*kitten* thing called the Warrior Dash. A 5k race with obstacles, mud, fire, beer, turkey drumsticks and viking hats. A light bulb went over in my head. I wanna do that!

I'm sure my husband shrugged it off as a side effect of the vodka. And Jager Bombs. And Red Headed Sluts. And whatever else I might have been drinking. After all, I couldn't run one lap around the park by my house without wheezing, and I was at my highest weight ever. And I was almost content to be that way. Almost.

But I remembered it the next day, and looked it up online. Even with a hangover, it seemed like fun. Like something I could do, if I work really hard. I was at the tail end of a depressive tailspin. I lost my Mom in December 2008, my job in January 2009, my father in February 2010, and finally one of my beloved cats in October 2010. I had ENOUGH of being tossed around by life. It was time for me to take charge. There's a lot of things I can't control, but I could control my health. And I was taking it for granted for far too long.

I started by walking the dog more. Then discovered the Couch to 5k Program. Really? I thought. I can learn to run 3.1 miles in just nine weeks?! That lead me here (really, I was only doing it for the ticker at first!), and the rest is history. I finished C25K in about 8 weeks due to extreme stubbornness and determination. I've done five races so far. My first was a 4.5 miler I wasn't ready for. I had to walk some of that, but finished in a little over 46 minutes. Next was a 5k that I was ready for, and finished in 29:42! I was thrilled with that, until my next two 5ks that I finished in just under and just over 28 minutes! Most recently was a 5 mile race that I finished in 45:17. Just 7 seconds behind my very athletic niece and about 30 seconds ahead of my brother, who were both my role models for running! Woohoo!

Initially, weight wasn't an issue for me. I was ok with how I looked. I thought I looked fine for 38. Until I got on the scale and realized I'd packed on about 10 pounds between summer and early winter. EEPS!!! But honestly, my focus was my health, and losing weight was just a nice side effect. And I firmly believe that focusing on getting stronger was what made this work for me. Other times I tried to lose a little weight, I just ate less and got bored with the slow progress. I figured if I could eat what I want and more or less maintain my weight, which wasn't BAD, that was better than starving myself to get a little thinner.

That's because I was doing it WRONG! I wasn't eating nearly enough. Finding MPF and being introduced to the concept of eating my exercise calories, and tweaking everything as I went along... that's been eye opening for me. That's what works for me... eating fairly normal, and sweating my *kitten* off to eat more!

Since I had to pick a "goal weight" when I started here, I chose 135 as a pie-in-the-sky number. When I lost about 12 pounds, I lowered it to 130 because I wasn't seeing much change. Now... I'm thinking 135 is good again. I'd like to tone up a bit more, and I have no doubt that will happen. But if the scale doesn't drop, I'm perfectly ok with that, too.

On to the photos...

Progress... From last summer to now. I gained about 8-10 pounds after the summer photo was taken, thanks to depression and Halloween candy.

Full length. I'm amazed at how LONG I look. My torso seems to have lengthened! And the back fat is all but gone!

In fact... I just might need to break out the itsy bitsy bikini I bought years ago and never had the guts (or had TOO MUCH guts!) to wear.

I love this... It's me in 1998 - at almost 26 - in a vintage swimsuit. And me today - at almost 39 - weighing about 20 pounds more, but looking (at least in my not so humble opinion!) much better. I dedicate this photo to anyone who thinks they need to get back down to their high school or early 20s weight to look just as good. You won't need to. When you do it right and build muscle, you're going to weigh more.

And because I started all this for the Warrior Dash, which is exactly ONE MONTH from today.... here's some photos of what I'm planning to wear. Minus the helmet and my grandmother's minks... at least not for the race. And I won't be running in my Ugg knockoffs, either.