Oh, how far I've come!

Friday, December 28, 2007

It's been a while since I last blogged, and I've been very sporadic in my visits to the site lately, but now that the wedding and holidays are over, I'll be able to be a regular again.

It's amazing what Spark People has done for me over the past 24 months. When I remember that I started out weighing in at 299 pounds, wearing a size 26 XXXL and living a total inactive lifestyle, some of the recent events in my life seem implausable!

First I must say that my family has been my inspiration and support system beyond compare during this time. But, it still is amzaing to me when things like this come up: my youngest son is a linebacker on a D-III college football team who is in his junior year. He's played football and been a dedicated weight-lifter for at least 8 years now. So, when he called me in late November to ask for my help and advice regarding a strength-training program, I was totally blown away. He asked my to write a lifting program for him, because I "knew more about it" then him now. He went on to tell me how proud he was of how far I've come and that even though he rags on me, I really look great. So, I wrote him a 9 week strength building program that I had recently completed and he called back after doing it for a week and said it "totally kicked" his butt. He said his teammates all wanted me to write them a program too! Wow, Wow, Wow!!! To think that I've come so far is mind-blowing.

As I mentioned earlier, my son got married on December 1. About a week after the wedding, my good friend who lives in Florida called to tell me how sorry she was that they missed the wedding. She said she had received a phone call from one of our guests that told her I "was the most beutiful woman (who was not the bride) at the wedding"! I'm still finding such compliments hard to believe, but they sure do make my day!

So, here's a big thank you to SP for giving me all the tools and motivation to sustain my program for the past 24 months. Without this site I'm certain I would have been satisfied with myself after losing the first 80 pounds. Instead I'm now 154 pounds and wearing a size 6!

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

TRECECOOKS 12/30/2007 12:49PM

OMG!! 154 and a size 6!! That's my goal size for 127 (I'm 5'3"). You are a HUGE inspiration to me, since you're older, and you have done/are doing this. I want to go back and catch all your blogs, to follow your progress. I KNOW you'll soon be in Maintenance. Way to go!! Report Inappropriate Comment

ADNAW_YOTS 12/29/2007 6:25AM

I read this blog at the right time. awesome comments. My son proposed to his girlfriend yesterday. The wedding will be this coming July and I need to lose a total of 50 lbs I will take what I can get as long as I am not what I am today! thank you for posting this! Report Inappropriate Comment

PEPCEA 12/28/2007 6:34PM

What an awesome post! Congratulations to you on your success! I am truly inspired! Alex Report Inappropriate Comment

GOOGLEMENOW 12/28/2007 4:50PM

OMGosh, just when I think you can't get any better looking, oopss. you did it again. You look so fab at your sons wedding. Almost unrecognizable even from the other pics that show your tremendous weight loss. I am still using you as a role model to never give up even though right now I'm on crutches or in a wheelchair from foot surgery. Now, I really need to not give up, it would be soooo easy. Surgery was in Aug and still can't walk, very depressing, but so far so good. I'm still here. I'm really glad you decided to blog today. Have a great new year, I'm sure you will your half the person you were a year ago. Report Inappropriate Comment

good spinning class today

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Today we had a substitute instructor for spinning class. She was really good and it's nice to have someone different now and again. Typically, my week has the same two instructors splitting the 5 days. I like the one a lot, but the other not so much, so it's nice to have someone new. I could of course, go in the evening, but, I'm really a better morning person. I also did a few new ab exercises using the weighted medicine balls. It is amazing how changing things up can really make a difference!

Well, I'm still in a bit of a funk. Not sure why, but I'm trying to work myself out of it. Maybe getting my hair done and picking up my dress for the wedding will shake me out of this. I sure hope so, because I'm getting tired of this feeling.

So, for now I'm off...

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

CURVYLIBRARYGAL 11/13/2007 3:26PM

Your weight-loss progress is amazing and inspiring! I am intrigued by spinning, but I think I would need to lose weight and get in a little bit better shape before I attempted it. When did you begin? Report Inappropriate Comment

Monday

Monday, November 12, 2007

Well there are less than 3 weeks until the wedding...should be exciting, but it's exhausting. I really hope my son will be happy in his new life. I guess we never stop worrying about our children. Once the stress of the wedding and the holidays are over, I'm certain that I'll be able to finally lose these last stubborn pounds. I'm doing a great job of keeping up with my weight training and cardio, but it seems that I'm consuming around 1600 calories and that's not going to cut it. My focus is divided too many ways right now, and I'm not staying within my range(actually I want to be around 1200 calories-new goal this week). I'm still having a struggle with body image, and feeling displeased with my current self. Will I ever get over that? I hope so!

  

I'm glad I finally took the risk

Friday, November 09, 2007

Why did we stop taking risks? In large part, we're afraid of screwing up. We've settled into our comfort zones and don't want to look like a fool, to ourselves or others. What's the price we pay for our pursuit of perfection? No growth, no sense of discovery, few real experiences. The sacrifice isn't worth it. Are there points in your life that you wish you could have back because you didn't pursue an idea or a new interest? Those chances are gone forever--but you'll have more in the future to take full advantage of. It's been said that most people don't learn much that's new past their 20's. That's an awful long time to stay stagnant. The only mistake you should be afraid to make is not trying.

On January 2, 2006 I finally got the courage to risk failing once again at weight loss. I'm so glad that I found that courage because my life is exponentially better since that day. It's such a joy to get up every morning and eagerly approach my day. Now that we are at DST I'm up with the sun and dressed for the gym every morning. What a sense of accomplishment I feel after a great workout. After struggling for the past few(5) weeks with knee pain that was affecting my cario workouts, it felt great to be back in full swing again. I so struggle daily not regretting the years I failed to do anything about my obesity, but when I read the above text, I realize that every day presents a new opportunity for me to atone for my past failures!

  

What am I doing up so early?

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Well it's 5:44 am, I've been sitting here since 4:30 and can't figure out why. I think it's the wedding count down that's on...24 days until my son's wedding. All I think about is dress fittings, rehersal dinners, hair appts. etc. I'll be glad when it's all over. I've had a pretty good week so far, though I did skip a leg workout on Wednesday...but did an awesome spin class and felt like my legs got a great workout there. Today is cardio and then upper body and cardio tomorrow. My food has been much better this week, cutting out a lot of snacking and keeping my calories in range. I've really increased my my muscle mass with my strength training and feel very strong. I waffle between being pleased with my body and feeling like I have so far to go still...will I ever gain control over that?

Well I'm going back to try and catch a couple hours more sleep before hitting the gym...