Getting back up on the horse

This post will be more like a journal entry, mostly because I can type faster than I can write and I just have to get this out of my head.

I have been thinking for a couple days now, to myself. "Get back up on that horse Laura". It is so hard to lose this weight. This past week, I only lost .6 lbs. I feel like I should be happy with that but just like on "The Biggest Loser" that just doesn't seem like enough.

The past couple weeks have been kind of like that, just really slow weight loss or none. I would like to say I have an excuse but really, this is what life is about. Things come up in everyone's lives and they have to deal with them. So, I'm dealing with my busy schedule and my pain, just like everyone else. Just wanted to say, "It's hard!" , but most things that are worth it are hard, aren't they?

"Before" and "After" - yes again, but different!

Here's another take on the "Before" and "After"

Warning, this isn't pretty! This post is no judgement on anyone else. This is a reflection on myself and a revelation to myself.

"Before"

High School Graduation

"After" I look like I'm 9 months pregnant here but, in fact, I am not pregnant, AT ALL.

My husband"s aunt was so excited for my last post about losing 50 lbs. She noted that I said I didn't have very many pictures of myself from when I was that big. She emailed me and asked if I wanted some pictures, later telling me that she was worried I would be offended. I actually was so excited! When I saw this picture of me in the red, I was horrified. Maybe if someone had showed me this picture four years ago, I would have started this sooner!

Everyone says that you should pick a picture of you when you were skinny and put it up and look at it and it will inspire you. Well, this picture from my high school graduation has been on my refrigerator for probably 5 or more years and guess what, it didn't inspire me. It actually made me feel like a failure, like I could never make it back to that size.

Well, for one thing, I am not 17 anymore! I am 37, do the math, that's 20 years! Of course, I'm never going to look like that again. But I will tell you one thing, I never want to look like that girl from 2007 again. This is my new inspiration. I can remind myself why I am doing this and hopefully it will keep me going. That's my latest strategy:)

"Before" and "Middle" 50 lbs!

Before

After

50 lbs!

I can't call this Before and After because I am not quite halfway to my goal but here it goes.

I have lost 50 lbs! It has taken me almost 2 years but I did it!

The day after Thanksgiving in 2009, I decided that I better do something to get healthier! Since everyone I knew that ran, either lost weight or was very fit, I figured I better try it. I know my husband almost fainted when I told him I wanted to run. I always called him crazy for running and here I was saying I wanted to join in on the craziness.

I have watched Biggest Loser for years and what really gets me is not the way they look before and after but what the doctor tells them. "You are 37 years old but your real age is 60" I always think, is that my real age? Am I going to be here to raise my kids if I don't change something? I know what my own doctor told me, when I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, about heart issues and being tired all the time. To make a long story short, I realized I needed to do something!

That first day after Thanksgiving, I could only run about 50 feet! I think we did about a mile but about 99% of it was walking. I couldn't call myself a "runner" yet. I made it through my first holiday in years, without gaining weight but I still had only lost about 3 lbs. January came and I decided to start The South Beach Diet. For 2 weeks, I stuck strickly to the book! I lost 9 lbs. Then I thought "I can do this, I can do it on my own". Well, that was not exactly true. I tried to do it "on my own" for another 8 months, in which time, I gained back about 3 lbs.

During this time, I had a new neighbor move in, who became a good friend. I joined an online Biggest Loser club and tried to lose weight that way. My new friend Kari and I were talking one day and came up with the idea to start the same type of weight loss competition locally. We figured if we had a local team, and made it fun, that maybe we could stay committed to losing weight.

We were on a mission to start our own group here in Maple Valley.

We advertised just by email and Facebook and ended up getting about 16 people to join us! Everyone paid money in and the winners split the money. ( I won't go into detail about how the competition goes, if you would like more information on it, let me know).

All this time, I kept running, a little. I had done my first 2 - 5K's but didn't start losing weight until I started the "Biggest Loser" group we had started. For some reason, the accountability really worked for me! I really didn't want to let down my team every week, so I just worked hard!

We are now on our 5th session of what we call our "Weight Loss Challenge"! I am training for my 2nd half marathon! I have finally lost 50 lbs! It took me almost 2 years but I did it! I have done it "the old fashioned way". I exercised and changed the way I ate! For a woman who is 37 years old, I knew what I was supposed to be doing, I just needed some motivation to do it!

For those who have been asking me, here are some pictures. I didn't really have many pictures of me from 2 years ago. I tried to avoid being in the pictures as much as I could.

When BJ was taking my picture the other day, I didn't know how to act. I still had that feeling like I didn't want to be in the picture but I figured, I better document it.

Stay tuned for the updates on me losing my next 50 lbs!