The Road to Healthy
My weight loss journey this far.
My shorts fell off as soon as I put them on the other day. It was the single event that drove home how much progress I’ve made in the last year and change. These shorts fit comfortably a year ago and were slightly loose at the end of last summer.
They’re at least two sizes too big now.
I’ve watched the numbers on the scale go down week-to-week. I’ve done that math. I’ve lost the equivalent of my dog in a year (she’s a beagle), but the small victories really didn’t hit until my shorts slid off my butt.
My highest weigh-in was at 224 pounds, but I’m fairly certain I weighed more. My job had already become more physical well before that weigh-in.
So what woke me up?
At first, it was my competitive nature. We had hired a bunch of younger people and I wanted to keep up with them. I wanted to climb in and out of gaylords without needing a stepladder. Hell, I wanted to show up the youngin’s on the crew.
I started eating healthier, but didn’t really hit the gym over the summer. Let’s be honest, my job was really physical already. I gained muscles I didn’t know I had. My coworkers gave me crap about the salads I had everyday, but it worked. By October, I was down 10 pounds.
The next three months were not so great. I hit the gym two to three times a week and kept up with eating slightly healthier (but there were cookies and candy because holidays). I lost a whole 3 pounds.
I started to panic. I was months away from my first ever Tough Mudder and I was damned if I was running it over 200 pounds. So I enlisted the help of one of my friends. He kicked my butt at the gym and got me over the fear of the free weight area (guess what? No one cares about you over there, they only care if you’re in their way for the machine or weights they need). He also made me look closer at my food labels. Guess who’s food choices weren’t as healthy as she thought.
My sister joined in on the action, giving me different exercises to help rehab my shoulder and whittle away my waist. I started counting calories, which I hate. I miss pizza, but not enough to spend those calories most days. I gave up most junk food and soda.
I’m proud to say I ran Tough Mudder at 195 pounds.
And then I backslid. My next big event isn’t until May next year (Tough Mudder Classic), so I’m not pushing myself hard enough. Turns out I slide back to doing the bare minimum when I don’t have an immediate goal.
So I set three goals for myself for September. By the beginning of the month, I want to: weigh in at 175 (well over halfway to my goal weight), double my shoulder press to 10 pounds because it means my shoulder is recovering, and double my morning plank to a minute.
My sister added another one for me (did I mention how proud she is of me taking control of my weight?): run a 5K. So I’m doing Couch to 5K and huffing and puffing my way through each day. I’ve never liked running, but I like being able to run after my nieces and nephews.
My ultimate goal is to get down to 150 pounds and to basically be a more toned version of myself in my early 20s. If I can’t get down to 150 but I look better than the girl in the picture, I will be happy.
So what was your big wake-up call? Why do you do the tough stuff?
Weekly Goals
Write 7K: Success! This book is rolling along quite nicely.
Read a book: Sucess! I finished When Demons Walk by Patricia Briggs
Go to class: Failure. I came back from Origins with con crud and decided not to share.
Go to the gym twice: Success.
Sew 10 dice bags: Failure.
