Guest Post - Fit to the Finish

This is the second in my line-up of guest posts I have to help me celebrate three years in this weight loss journey.


I found Diane's blog shortly after starting my own and was an immediate follower.  I was drawn to her blog mainly for the fact that she lost a large amount of weight and had kept it off for over a decade already.  The fact that she was a mother and had to work her healthy lifestyle around taking care of a family was an added draw.   Her emails of wisdom and encouragement over these past three years has meant ever so much to me.


And now...Diane from Fit to the Finish:

Three years can seem like a long time or a short time, depending on where you are in life. For small children, three years likely seems like a lifetime, while older adults often complain that the years just seem to fly by more and more quickly the older they get.

Leah has been on her weight loss journey for three years, about the same amount of time that I’ve been blogging. Leah was one of the first blogging friends I made and although I’ve never met her in person, she inspires me every time I read her blog.

It’s easy to quit trying to lose weight. Lord knows that I quit about 500 times before I finally lost my 150 pounds. Leah never quits and her success is a testimony to her perseverance and her dedication to losing weight on her terms, and in her own time. 

Perseverance in this weight loss process is what gets you to the finish line. Perseverance helps you when you are tired of exercising but you do it anyway. Perseverance helps you make good choices when your friends are all eating cake and you decide to say no. 

I’ve told Leah and my own blog readers this many times, but this weight loss journey isn’t a race. There is no prize for finishing first. The prizes come all along the journey. When I was morbidly obese, the ability to tie my shoes more easily was a prize I got after losing about 50 pounds. As I continued to lose weight I celebrated small victories like being able to get up from a chair without holding onto the arms or walking for 15 minutes without stopping. 

I’ve seen Leah celebrate victories large and small during these three years. She now runs when she used to not exercise at all. She handles family visits with planned healthy meals that everyone can enjoy, and she shares her faith with her readers and credits much of her success to her relationship with God. I admire all of these things.

No matter where you are in your journey, remember to celebrate each prize, or victory, you experience and never, ever give up on yourself. 

Memorial Day

Please join with me in taking a minute to remember the men and women 

who have given their lives so we can be free.

Weigh-In ... 3 Years & 60+ Pounds

Today's Weight:  169.5
Loss/Gain:  -2.5 lbs


Where to  begin?  I was hoping at the beginning of this year to really "get with the program", finish what I started and be at my goal weight by this week.  While that didn't happen, something else did. 


I kept at it.  I may "only" be 8.5 pounds down from my first weigh-in in January of this year, but I am 61.5 pounds down from my first blog post in May 2009.   


60+ pounds.


From a girl who thought she'd never lose the weight.  A girl who reached a point where she knew she had to do something about the increasing weight, but was so scared of dieting and failing again that she decided a few walks a week and cutting out regular soda were the only steps she would start with.


60+ pounds from a girl who managed to be brave enough to start a blog, but mainly because she wanted an outlet to speak about her feelings during this one last effort without having to share with her friends she was going on a diet again.


I'm a bit overwhelmed that those first baby steps have actually led me to where I am today.  I've always said my journey is a turtle one - slow.  I've not been the gung-ho "I'm gonna lose weight for good!" go getter, but more like the desperate and fearful, I-have-to-do-something-because-I'm-so-tired-of-this person. 


And so I started.  I embarked on a journey that has taken me places emotionally, spiritually and physically I never dreamed of going.  


This was my first blog post:  

May 15,2009 - I'm going to begin this blog by saying that this is the last time I'm going on this weight loss journey.  There is much to share and I will get to it later, but suffice it to say that this is not the first time I've tried to lose weight.  However, it will be the last time. 

My dad once said, "Follow Jesus day by day, and in time you'll be surprised at how far you've come."  This has been so true in my Christianity, in life and definitely in this weight loss journey.  

One day at a time, one choice at a time, whether good or bad, will add up.  The lessons to be learned along the way are not always easy, but they are so worth it in the end.  And they will add up to something great.  

Today I finish this post with a few things I'm so grateful for:

I give God the glory for helping me work through some major food issues in my life these past three years.  I know "..faith without works is dead..", so I also feel that faith+works=success.  God has helped me to not only believe He cares about my food issues, but to believe that I am capable and worth more than I think.

I thank my husband for loving me through thick and thin, literally.  He's always my biggest fan and even yesterday when I turned down a breadstick at Olive Garden he pushed them to the side of the table and said, "So you won't be tempted".  Love dat man!

I thank my dear friend, Stephanie, for always being there for me over the years.  She's rejoiced when I rejoiced, let me virtually cry on her shoulder when I'm vexed and been willing to help me navigate my way into this healthier lifestyle at my own pace.  

And thanks to all my friends I was finally able to tell about my weight loss journey, and to you in blogland who are so supportive, especially the followers/friends that are still reading after three years.  I don't take it personally when people quit reading my blog (I'd get vexed too with someone who keeps losing the same 2 pounds for a while.. LOL), but it always touches my heart when someone is commenting who I know was commenting a couple years ago.  Wow.  

Okay, and I can't finish without thanking my mom and children for their support.  My mom came through a bout with breast cancer and is living cancer free.  She might not have been able to see me finish a 10K had her story turned out differently.  I'm very grateful she's still around!

My kids have also loved me "through thick and thin" and lately they are becoming great cheerleaders.   I've tried not to make my weight issues a big deal in the home, because I don't want them to become too consumed with appearances.  However, I have tried to incorporate some healthier eating habits and teach them moderation is key when eating the less-than-healthy foods.  My losing this weight is showing them that anything is possible if you just try, and now I share with them when I reach a weight-loss milestone and they cheer and hug me.

That's it for today.   Three years have come and gone and the weight continues to come (and stay) off.  I'm looking forward to what the future brings.  

For today...it's time for me to clean house and then relax before our Memorial Day weekend begins.  Have a safe, enjoyable weekend all my US buddies.  :)  And, as always...thanks for checking in.  

I'm still fighting and it's not over.  Glory!

Guest Post - Finding Radiance

On top of my excitement over finishing my first 10K last weekend is the fact that this week I celebrate my 3rd year anniversary of my weight loss journey.  I wanted to do a big whoop-di-do with a slideshow and such...until my other computer froze and we couldn't take it to the shop right away.  


The other thing I wanted to share with you in celebration was spotlight two women who I admire for their focus and determination on their weightless journeys.  


Today I'm sharing a post from Lori at Finding Radiance.  I found Lori's blog pretty quickly after starting my own and she became a mentor to me, without knowing it, because of three things: 

1. Her love of coffee.  :)
2. Her love of sweets, and making them fit into her life while still maintaining a large weight loss. 
3. Her size - she was about my heigh and beginning weight (approx) and seeing her photo gave me something to look forward to.  

Today, please take a moment to read a few things Lori has to say on weight loss, reaching goals and embracing every victory along the way:

Leah had approached me about doing a guest post for her blog from people who achieved their goals. I wasn’t sure at first because I really never have reached my goal.  Even though I have lost 100 pounds and have kept it off for almost 4 years, I never did get that last bit of weight off.  When they say the last 10 pounds are the hardest – they are not kidding!  

The message that I want to give to you then would be not to think the goal is the be all and end all to your journey.  I read a lot of blogs where people fear they are never going to get to goal.  You know what?  It isn’t the end of the world.  No one is going to broadcast in the newspaper that you are losing slow or have backslid some or still have 10 pounds to go.  That doesn’t define you as a person.  

Part of being a successful maintainer of any loss – even in you aren’t at goal – is to appreciate what you have done and the permanent changes you have made to keep that off.  That often gets lost in the weeds.  You hear “I only lost a pound”. Well, guess what?  That is fabulous!  Do that only every other week for a year and you are down 25 pounds at the end of the year.  That sounds like a lot of weight then, doesn’t it?  It’s not about how much/how fast. It is about how long you keep it off.  

Stuck in a plateau?  That’s okay.  Be glad you are plateauing and not gaining the weight back. Stick to your plan and don’t give up.

Celebrate every pound, every inch, every extra yard you run/bike/swim on the way down. All of those things really mean something and will help you learn how to *keep* off the weight.  We all know how to lose weight.  Losing it is really the easy part. Keeping it lost is the hard part unless you build a good set of tools for life.

My First 10K - Long Story (and some)

Did I say I was going to tell you this part yesterday, oh I'm so sorry...I meant today.  *wink*  Yesterday was laundry day and finishing up a graduation scrapbook album to get in the mail a.s.a.p.  Both got done, so today I can share a little more about my race.     (just finished...and well, it's more like A LOT *grin* grab a cup of coffee or some water...)

This was my first ever 10K race...which is why I'm expounding a bit.

If you ever would've told me I would be able to run for 6.2 miles straight through I would've laughed at you.  In fact, when my husband suggested the race about two months ago, and encouraged me to give the 10K a try I didn't think I could do it.  I knew I could run a 5K (3.1 miles) and I was about halfway into the Couch to 5K Program again, so I thought the race would be a perfect goal for my interval training.

It was a good goal, but not just for 5K.  It was a goal to see if I could push myself to strive for more than I felt capable of.  It was scary to think of at first.  In fact, when I printed out Jeff Galloway's 10K training plan and read how he is a big supporter of taking walk breaks during a race to finish strong this is how I thought the race would go:

1. I would run and plan walk breaks about every two miles.
2. My goal would be to finish the race, but nothing more.  No set times. 

Then I began training and saw my goals change.  Over the course of a couple of weeks, and finishing a few long runs, by goals became: 

1. Try and run the whole thing, only walking if absolutely necessary. 
2. Finish in under 75 minutes (1:15:00), giving me ample time of a 12:00 pace for the entire time.

Then I began to have some hip pain, got discouraged, learned what could be causing it (my conclusion is overexertion and weak legs) and then learned how to keep running without doing permanent damage.  I took it easy a few days to take care of my hip, and it would recover better from runs when I did that.   

The week before the race when I would still get hip soreness from running I added to my race goals:

1. Start the race pain free.
2. Enjoy the run.  

A week prior to the race I was so extremely busy that it was hard to remember I had this big event coming up.  I kept working out, but spent more time recouping from the stress of my Mother's Day Lunch than worrying about the race.  

Around Wednesday I remembered I have this big deal coming up.  :)  A friend of mine was running the race as well and asked me if I was ready.  She used to run a lot (has a marathon under her belt) and has been getting back into running.  The excitement came back after talking to her. 

Friday I decided to try and carb load just a little, more out of feeling important that I had anything that needed some carb loading.  I ate pizza for lunch with a small bowl of pasta.  Whee!  (oh, and the small brownie and cinnamon roll that I called "carb loading", but we won't go into that...)  My husband had been out of town all week and he came home that night and we got to bed at a decent hour, which was good since we had to leave at about 6:30 for the race.

Saturday morning I woke up excited and a nervous.  I did what I do every morning and made my coffee, ate half of my Clif Bar, then I put some mascara and lip gloss on (figured I'd try and look a little more decent for the race..LOL).  My son was up bright and early and we had to get husband out of bed and get him moving.  

As we drove to the race (10 minutes from my house) I realized no one had pockets to carry my camera in.  So, we decided to take a few pre-run photos at the car and then I'd get one afterwards.  I was a bit bummed about this, because I wanted a photo of me crossing the finish, but oh well.  My daughter was going to be the photographer, but she and her sister ended up going out of town for the weekend.  

Anyway, I had decided to wait until after arriving at the stadium to use the restroom.  Um, that might've been a mistake...the line was SO LONG.  Thankfully, I made it in perfect time to go and get to the 10K corral with a good 3-5 minutes to spare. 

While waiting we were able to chat with my friend who was running the 10K and ran into another friend of ours who was doing the 5K.  My son was going to run the 1 mile, so we left him in his corral with instructions where to meet my husband after his race.  (I knew hubby would be done faster than me)

Finally it was our turn to head over to the start line.  

At the "GO!" the crowd surged ahead and I pushed the start button on my Garmin.  I began running wishing my husband and friend a good run, dodging around a few walkers (who apparently never heard of race etiquette - walkers stay at back of crowd...) and then noticed I was getting left behind.  Again.

Watching the runners go mostly ahead of me I began to feel very slow, but then I looked at my Garmin and I was at an 11:00 pace already.  I knew for me I needed to slow up a tiny bit to be able to finish the race.  So, it took a good mile or two for me to settle and get past the mind battles watching people run up ahead of me.  This was the hardest part for me, the mind battles of being so slow.

It also took a couple miles to get over having to "go" #2.  Um, yes...*giggle*  I didn't think it was funny then, and thankfully it wasn't as bad as my run where that feeling hit hard at mile 4, but still...I barely started jogging and felt the urge.  "Oh no...not now...I can't stop to use the bathroom on this race!!"  So, I began praying.  

Yes, I'm serious.  I was like, "Lord, please take this feeling away and keep it at bay 'til I'm done.  If not, give me the strength to ignore it for the race and keep going."  I'll just leave you with knowing a little while longer I realized I didn't have to go anymore.  Glory!

I haven't mentioned this yet, but it was a glorious morning to be running!  The temperatures had dropped a little and it was only about 63 when we started.  The sun was shining and we were running through very pleasant neighborhoods.  I enjoyed looking at the different runners, noticing how people of all shapes and sizes were out.  Smiled at the lady who was holding up a poster board with giant ant cutouts all around the edge and written on it "Run like there's ants in your pants!"  She was cheering us, all by herself with her little dog.  So fun!   I even complimented some young girls on their cool knee-high socks and then suddenly began seeing....

...people were taking walk breaks.  Not even two miles into the race people were stopping to walk.  I just kept my little self jogging right along, not really passing them, but knowing I didn't need to walk yet.   

Next thing I knew we passed a water station and it was 3 miles.  I was half way done and I smiled really big when I realized this.  I felt strong and the running wasn't so hard.  

I guess after the halfway point is when I started passing a couple people, who I didn't recognize.  Now, we were overlapping with the half-marathon people so some of those were running twice as far as me; but I did see some  people stop to walk that were 10K'ers and I passed them.  

Jeff Galloway encourages taking walk breaks to finish a race strong, and I completely understand that.  But let me tell you there was nothing that made me feel better than to know that I may not have shot out of the gate, but I was still running.  My mantra began to be "slow and steady wins the race".   

And win the race I did.  I won my race anyway, and that's all that mattered.   

As we rounded for the last half mile I realized I was still running at my good steady pace and I wasn't feeling over tired or winded.  I felt strong.  

As I came up to the 6-mile mark my two girlfriends called out to me and joined me.  I almost cried, and felt like one of the Biggest Loser marathon runners when people come and run different lengths with them.  LOL  They were so sweet and encouraging!! 

Suddenly, as we were about to make the last turn towards the finish, my son showed up and joined me.  We sprinted over the finish, past my husband calling out from the sides, "GO LEAH!!", and I finished.  

6.2 miles in 1:10:27

Running the entire way.

My husband gave me a huge hug and I started crying out of pure joy and disbelief.  

I had done it.  I had finished a race I never thought I'd be able to do, and I enjoyed it!!!  

We stood around for a few minutes chatting with the friends and listening to the winners. (The male half-marathon winner came in at 1 hour - wow!!)  And then we headed back to the car to go to breakfast.  A lady parked nearby obligingly took a quick photo of the three of us all together - race finishers. 

Then we headed over to Cracker Barrel and I basked in more glory as I watched other runners from the race milling about and being so proud that I was one of them.  :)  There was a day I would not have cared to be included in that group, and would have cheered on anyone who cared to without feeling bad about myself.  But this past Saturday...let's just say I wore the race t-shirts we were given all day because I was so proud of my accomplishment. 

It was a day I'll never forget, and it leaves me feeling hopeful that I am capable of accomplishing great things if I'll only just believe and put a little elbow grease into it.  

*********

If you made it this far...I hope you enjoyed the reading.  I wanted to remember every detail of this HUGE first in my life.  :) 

My First 10K - Short Story

Whew!  After a busy weekend I finally have a moment to share about my first 10K race.

It was AWESOME!  I finished in 1:10 and ran the entire distance.  Other than my hip being sore for most the day afterward I felt great.  My body felt like normal, like, "eh, just went for a run this morning, that's all..no biggie".  LOL

My husband also ran the 10K, with horrible shin splits, and finished in 52:00 and my son came in 3rd place for the 1 mile.  Since my girls ended up going out of town for the weekend I had no one to capture photos of the event, but we did take a few at the car before and after.

Three friends of ours ran the race as well; and my two girlfriends came to run the last 0.2 mile with me.  I didn't know they were going to do that and almost cried when I saw them yelling for me and then coming to join me.  My son ran the last few feet with me and my husband was there at the finish yelling for me.  He then embraced me as I cried tears of joy for about a minute.

It was a day I'll never forget.  And I'm ready to do another one.  :)

(after photo - We did it!)

Tomorrow I'll post the "Long Story" a.k.a. my thoughts on the race, the day and why I enjoyed it so much.

Weigh-In ... One Thing Done Right

Today's Weight: 172.0
Loss/Gain: +2.0

Yes, you probably knew I didn't post earlier because it isn't good news this week.  I'm slightly confused why it's up, but I was expecting a maintain after the larger loss last week and some Mother's Day treats this past weekend.  Apparently I didn't recover as well as I had hoped.  *sigh*  I was sorely vexed about it this morning and as I had plenty of stuff to do today I figured posting could wait until I was in a better mood.

One thing I have done right lately is prepare for my first 10K race which is...tomorrow.  :)

As you can see below I decided two months ago tomorrow to do the 10K instead of another 5K.  This is my longest race to date.  I was very nervous at the idea, even running it by some friends after my husband suggested I push myself a bit.   They all agreed I should go for it.

Then I searched online for a training plan that went well with my running experience so far (very much "new runner").  I chose Jeff Galloway's 10K Training Program and it has served me well.  I copied the above chart after the one on his website, switching my rest day to Fridays and Sundays and doing the long runs on Saturdays.

I've been completely honest about how I trained, marking off all the days I followed the plan and noting what I did for each workout.  And now...

I am ready.

Next week I'll write a bit about some things I learned during this training period.  In the meantime, I'm heading out to pick up the race packets and then going to dinner with my son before a practice at church.  My husband has been out of town all week and returns this evening.

We're looking forward to some relaxing later and getting to bed early so we can rise and shine early for our 7:25 am race tomorrow.  I'll definitely be back to tell you about it!

Thanks for checking in.