This post is long overdue. And it’s going to be a long one.

It’s no secret that I struggled pretty bad last month. Thankfully, I’m making strides now to “come back” and re-lose what I gained. I’m getting my mojo back and I sure don’t want to lose it again…so that’s where this post comes in. I want to give a complete status update on where I am currently in my journey as well as share my plans going forward.

This is me wiping my hands clean of the last month and starting anew.

WHERE I’M AT:

Mondays are my ‘official’ weigh-in days and as of Monday of this week I weighed 200.5 lbs. I’ve lost a total of 55.5 pounds since the beginning of my journey 9 months ago, which is 21.6% of my starting weight.

When I started this journey, my BMI was 44.1, which meant that I fell into the “morbidly obese” category. At 5′-3″ and 200.5 lbs, my BMI is now at 35.5, which means I’m just “obese” now without the “morbidly”.

My measurements as of today are as follows:

Waist: 44 1/4″ (3″ smaller than it was on 1/25/10 and 5 1/4″ smaller than it was on 7/27/07.)
Chest: 45 1/2 (3″ smaller than it was on 1/25/10 and 8 1/2″ smaller than it was on 7/27/07.)
Hips: 49″ (3 3/4″ smaller than it was on 1/25/10 and 5″ smaller than it was on 7/27/07.)
Thigh: 23 1/2″ (1 3/4″ smaller than it was on 1/25/10 and 3″ smaller than it was on 7/27/07.)

So, OVERALL, I’ve lost 5 1/4″ in my waist, 8 1/2″ in my chest, 5″” in my hips, and 3″ in my thigh.

So that’s where I am in the numbers. Now let’s see where I am in pictures.

WHERE I’M GOING:

One of my good friends, Steve, recently wrote about his struggle and his PLAN to overcome it. His posts on that really inspired me to regain my footing and part of that process is to instill some new goals (and maybe resurrect some new ones).

That’s the one thing this journey has made me — very goal oriented. I LOVED being part of the various challenges that have been out there, especially the ones that required a weekly check-in on our goals. I attribute a lot of the success I’ve had to those challenges! It’s been months though, since I’ve last been a part of one…and although I said I was going to continue weekly goal tracking anyway, I didn’t. That changes now.

NEW WEEKLY GOALS:

• Run at least 10 miles this week.

Many of you know that my goal for the year is to run/walk/jog 500 miles. So far, I’m at 179.8 miles logged. I’ve fallen behind. I’m still confident that I’ll reach my goal, especially as my miles increase in my half-marathon training, but I need to at least get 10 in per week to stay on track.

• Ride my bike at least once this week.

You may recall that I was actually scared to ride one for a long time, but finally did several months back. I really don’t enjoy bike riding, but that may be just because I never do it and haven’t given it a chance to grow on me.

• Not drink ANY soda.

So far, it’s been 277 days since I last had a drink of soda and I’d like to make it a year.

• Eat breakfast everyday.

I’ve struggled with this since the beginning, but there is a clear difference in my energy levels on the days I have breakfast and the days I don’t. I perform better with it!

• Go to bed by 11:00 on work nights, and by 8:00 PM on Friday nights.

I meet with Caleb’s Crusade at 5:30 on Saturday mornings, so that’s why I need to be in bed so early on Fridays.

• Do one exercise class this week (Yoga, kickboxing, bootcamp, etc)

I was doing SO well when I was attending the kickboxing class every week, so I’d like to start going again. I’m really looking forward to incorporating this back into my routine.

• Keep my training log updated.

I need to keep up with this, even on the days I can’t get online…so I have a paper journal that I will use for those times.

• Do 5 days of training per Caleb’s Crusade schedule.

Well, I obviously couldn’t discuss my goals and the future of my journey without talking about Caleb’s Crusade! They are the group that I am running the Disney Half-Marathon in January with/for and what an amazing group of people! I feel so blessed to have met them. My training consists of 2 days of running through the week (usually Monday and Wednesday) and 2 days of cross training through the week (usually Tuesday and Thursday) and then our “long run” on Saturdays with the group. For my cross training, I want to ride my bike one of the days, and then whatever class I join (see above) will be my second day of cross.

For our long run this week (tomorrow) we are on schedule to run 5.5 miles. The longest I have ran thus far without stopping to walk is 4.5 miles, so we will see how I do. I’m not going to over-push myself, but I really would like to see if I can run the whole way. I am also planning on getting my new running shoes tomorrow that I won! I wish I could have gotten them already so that I could wear them for tomorrow’s run, but my schedule just didn’t allow for it.

So that’s it. Those are my new weekly goals, some of which may look familiar to you. I’ll check in every Friday** with an update. Speaking of goals, I’ve updated my goals pages here and here if you want to take a look.

**You may recall from my last post that I don’t have internet at home right now. This was a hard decision for us to make as a family, but it was necessary. So, for the next few months, my internet access will be limited to my lunch hour at work or whenever I can go to the library or use a friend’s computer. When I can get on, I’m going to try to keep my blog updated as much as I can…if nothing else, I’ll at least post my weekly weigh-ins (Mondays) and weekly goal updates (Fridays). I need to do that for me. For my journey. The worst part about this is that I won’t be as connected to you all as I once was. I have really thrived on the accountability and encouragement I get from you guys and am not sure how successful I can be without it. Obviously, I won’t be able to read your blogs and comment like I used to. However, I can encourage you on facebook or through email (both of which I can access on my phone). So I’d love for you to add me on facebook or email me (josiephelps @ inbox .com) if you want to stay connected that way. ♥

I warned you this was going to be a long post! Congrats if you read the whole thing…hehe.

179.8 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
49.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(6) 5Ks finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

I’ve only got a minute, so please excuse the brevity of this post, but I wanted to give a quick recap of the race this morning and also share a few pictures from it.

Say hello to the newest member of the Fort Myers Track Club!!!

This was a tough race. And I mean TOUGH. Maybe it was the Florida sun bearing down on me. Maybe it was the fact that I haven’t been running for the past few weeks. Maybe it was a combination of those and other things. At one point I really questioned whether or not I’d be able to finish and I’ve never really had those doubts before during a race. I pushed through the doubts and the heat and all things considered am very pleased with my results! This race was not officially timed, but there was a clock there that read 46 minutes as I crossed the finish line. Considering I didn’t cross the start line right when the race began, my time was probably around 45 minutes, which is only 2 minutes slower than my last 5k in April. So I was pleased that I didn’t lose too much time considering I haven’t ran in so long. The real victory for me today was the fact that I didn’t walk any of it. I RAN THE WHOLE THING!!

Here are a few pictures and then I’ve got to scoot. Hope you’re all having a great day!!!

My daughter wanted to do this race with me – she did awesome! She finished at around 41 minutes.

Here I am crossing the finish line. By the way, today was the first time I wore a tank top like that in public.

Lynne ran this race too! I’ll let her share her finish line photo, but here’s one of the 3 of us afterwards. (Pst, She did awesome too!!!)

I needed this race today. NEEDED it. It did wonders for me and I’m soooo glad that I decided to push through my doubts and just do it.

Click here to see the complete gallery of photos from today’s race. I’ve also updated my Racing page here.

169.8 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
49.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(5) 5Ks finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

One of my goals for 2010 was to organize a family reunion. As I posted the other day, we had it on May 29th and I had so much fun. Yeah, it was a little overwhelming to plan and I stressed myself out over way more than I needed to, but it went really well and everyone had a great time. I hope you don’t mind me sharing the details and pictures with you all.

For starters, the decorations. I know I made things more difficult for myself by choosing to make the decorations instead of just buying them, but that’s me. I don’t know if I ever shared this, but I am a scrapbooker, so I had a lot of the supplies already on hand. Here is the banner I made using scrapbooking paper and my Silhouette machine:

Each letter was about 10″ tall – there were two strands that read “Wilkins Family”. The colors of the reunion were purple and white because my grandmother’s birthstone was pearl and my grandfather’s birthstone was amethyst. Yes, I love symbolism.

Closeup of the banner:

I had a table set up with pictures of my grandparents, their marriage certificate and pictures of their four children as well:

I also made labels for the water bottles. (See what I mean when I said I made things harder for myself???) You have to admit they were cute though

And of course, I made a cake By the time this picture was taken, it had already gotten smashed into the box and messed up, but you get the idea. The letters look blue in the photo, but they were purple to match the border.

The names on the leaves represent my grandparents (Edith and Alex) and their four children: Wendy, Kathy, Gordy, and Marty. Here are the four siblings reunited at the reunion for the first time in 21 years!

And here is a group shot of everyone that was at the reunion:

We had lots of fun….everything from volleyball:

to shooting water guns at each other:

There were photo albums filled with old (and recent) photos for everyone to look at and pass around:

There was even Tic Tac Toe! (I think mom won every time?!)

We had burgers, hot dogs, and chicken cooking on 3 different grills:

The park had these super cool bikes for the kids:

Babies got worn out:

Adults got worn out:

Most of the family stayed in town all weekend, so the activities didn’t end just because the actual reunion did. The next day we went to ride the bumper boats at the Shell Factory:

Everyone on the lake that day was from our family…it was an awesomely wet fun time!

Then the next day we went to the beach on Sanibel Island and had yet another fun, wet day!

and one more just because I think this is the cutest thing ever!!! This is my cousin Dustin and his baby, Landon.

So sorry for bombarding you with pictures. Between me and my cousins there were SO many pictures taken! You can see more on my facebook if this wasn’t enough

It was SUCH a fun weekend. I had never met Dustin or his wife and child…it was so awesome getting to know them. They are now wanting to move down here and I hope that they do! I had two other cousins from Texas come…I think I may have met them when I was a child, but I of course don’t remember so it was like meeting them for the first time. It was nice to also meet their families. I am glad that we had this…I think my grandparents would have been so happy to have seen (almost) everyone together again. At least, I’d like to think they were. Now onto some racing news!

My next race is going to be the Ft. Myers Track Club Membership Run 5K in 2 days:

The cool thing about this race is that just by participating, I will automatically become a member of the Ft. Myers Track Club.

Wait.

Did you just read what I wrote?

*I* am going to be a Track Club member. ME. The girl who couldn’t even walk one set of stairs without getting out of breath a year ago is now going to be an official member of a running club.

Pretty damn awesome, huh?

I’m still very cautious though. This will be my first 5K since I hurt my leg and hit all sorts of obstacles. I have only just now began to get back into it after having 3+ weeks of struggling, poor eating, and no running. So, I might walk a portion of the race (or the entire thing). I’m going to play it by ear and really ‘listen’ to my leg. My desire to stay injury free is faaaar greater than my desire to finish the race.

165.7 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
49.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(5) 5Ks finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known” ~ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Remember how I spontaneously decided to join my friends in the Valor 5k this past weekend? It was a great race which supported a great cause, families of first responders. Sounds good eh?

…that’s not even the best part!

It actually consisted of two races. It started with a 5k Road Race and then there was about a 15 minute break before the 5k Trail Run started. I was initially just going to do the Road Race, but I ended up doing both. So for those keeping score, that’s (2) 10k’s in 2 weeks. How’s that for spontaneity?

But guess what? That’s still not the best part!

I accomplished something in this race that I’ve never done before in my entire life.

Something that I thought I was still months away from accomplishing.

Something that gave me a glimmer of hope that my dreams of being a runner might just become a reality yet.

I RAN FOR A WHOLE MILE!

Yes, one whole mile without stopping to walk! It all started during last week’s 10k when I forgot my watch at home. I thought I was doomed to get a horrible time in that race because I didn’t have my watch to keep my on track. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. I actually finished 12 minutes quicker than I ever did in workouts and I believe it’s because I didn’t have my watch. This led me to believe that I had let my watch become a crutch. I started to think that maybe it was holding me back because I was so used to stopping after 60 seconds or 90 seconds of running that I wasn’t pushing myself to go farther.

I was letting my watch control my progress, instead of letting my body be my guide.

So I decided for this race that I was going to start running at the first mile marker and without looking at my watch, just RUN until I literally couldn’t anymore…and wouldn’t you know that I made it all the way to the 2nd mile marker! I couldn’t believe it, and a big part of me still can’t believe that I did it. But I did.

“I’m proud of myself” doesn’t even begin to cover how I felt in that moment. Not even close.

So, that’s my big news from the weekend. Before I get to the pictures, here are my weigh-in results from this morning:

I weighed in this morning at 205.8 lbs which is a 1.2 lb gain for the week. This brings my total weight loss so far to 50.2 pounds.

Wanna know how I honestly feel about seeing a gain this week?

I am MORE than just a number.

(Thanks Jess for that timely realization!)

Besides, I ran a MILE this week. The sense of accomplishment I got from that FAR outweighs any disappointment from gaining a measly pound.

I ran a mile!

Picture time.

Here I am crossing the finish line in the first 5k, the Road Race portion. My official time was 43:43 which is almost 3 minutes faster than my previous personal best.

My buddy Lynne ran this race with me…here we are immediately afterwards. She did AWESOME btw!

Haha, me resting in the 10 minute break between races. Trying to catch my breath is more like it.

Here’s one of the pictures I took during the 2nd 5k, the Trail Run portion.

Most of the trail looked like this, all muddy and just ewwww. It was a much more difficult race to run than the road race. It was really narrow and wooded, and it looped back so I’d have to stop and step out of the way to let the others go. It was tough.

Me hamming it up for the camera during the trail run.

My shoes and ankles after the Trail Run. (I told you it was muddy!)

Here I am crossing the finish line of the Trail Race. My official time was 48:53. See that girl off to the left clapping her hands? She was SUPER cool. She came back and ran the last 1/4 mile or so with me across the finish line. She actually did this for several people. She was really encouraging and not in a patronizing way, ya know? She wasn’t like sneering at us fat girls crossing the finish line…she seemed genuinely interested in WHY we were there and happy for us. Her and another chick, Cheryl, came up to us afterwards and talked for a while. She won 1st in the overall category and Cheryl won 2nd in her age group! It was great to chat with two of the best athletes out there!

All of us after the race. From left to right, Becky, Amy, Mindy, Me, Lynne (Amy is the one I mentioned above who ran with us across the finish line…look at her abs!)

Click here to see the complete gallery of photos from today’s race. I’ve also updated my Racing page here.

139.25 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
45.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(5) 5Ks finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Does that remind you of a song like it does me?

Losing 50 pounds has dramatically affected my life in so many positive ways. I’m happier, healthier, and far more energetic than I was 6 months ago. But there’s also no denying the physical transformation that my body has undergone. I have been swimming in my clothes.

I came home from work yesterday stoked as hell to have lost 50 pounds, but when I looked in the mirror I got depressed at what I saw and “frumpy” is the best word I can think of to describe the image I saw. I’ve only bought 1 new pair of pants since I started losing weight and 2 used pairs from a thrift store. So I only have 3 pair of pants that fit me properly. When they’re dirty, I’m stuck wearing my old size 24s which have been loose for a while now, but it’s gotten to the point where I simply can not wear them anymore. My tops are the same way. I started this journey wearing 26/28 tops and now I’m comfortably wearing a size 18. Do you know how frumpy a person looks wearing clothes that are 4 sizes too big? I have a very professional position and needless to say I have not been looking too professional lately. So I made the decision last night to clean out my closet.

I did a lot of trying on and a lot of purging ANYthing that didn’t fit comfortably anymore and here’s what I’m left with:

Keep in mind that I hang all of my tops whether they’re t-shirts, workout tops, or dress shirts. They all go on a hanger…so I’m not left with much, huh?

I also cleaned out all of my pants and shorts from my dresser and then I packed everything that no longer fit. We’ll probably put them all in our yard sale this summer:

Whew. That felt good. Reeeaaaal good. Sure, I barely have any clothes that fit me, but how in the world can I complain? Putting it into perspective, I’d much rather be 204 lbs and only have a few outfits to wear than be 256 pounds and a whole closet full of clothes that were too tight.

Speaking of purging, I have the pleasure of sending a pair of my jeans onto another blogger, Jewlia, as part of the Bloggerhood of the Traveling Not So Fat Pants. The jeans I’m sending her are the ones I’m holding in this photo on my blog:

I hope she likes them and gets a lot of use out of them, I know I did.

132.9 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
45.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

I weighed in this morning at 204.6 lbs which is a 2.9 lb loss for the week. This brings my total weight loss so far to 51.4 pounds.

FINALLY! I’ve been dancing around 207-208 for a few weeks now. I even saw 206.5 a couple of times, but nothing any lower and it’s been driving me crazy being soooo close (yet seemingly so far away) from that 50 lb mark. Needless to say I was super excited this morning, and as my facebook friends will attest, I thought my scale was playing a jedi mind trick on me.

Oddly enough, if you look at my list of weight goals, you won’t see “Lose 50 Pounds” as one of them. It was so close to the “Onederland” milestone that it didn’t seem right for me to set two goals that close to one other. Still, “official” milestone or not, being able to say I lost 50 pounds is a pretty stellar achievement for me.

So, this puts me 5.6 pounds away from being under 200 – which will hopefully happen in the next 2-3 weeks? Yes, I’m OMG!-ing at the mere thought of it. I mean, it’s been a long time comin’. How long? About 15 years since I’ve weighed less than 200 pounds. And I’m now just 5 pounds away.

FIVE FREAKIN’ POUNDS.

Somebody pinch me.

Changing gears now, I am *almost* caught up on all your blogs. I do apologize for being so quiet lately in that regard. I’m constantly amazed and inspired by everyone in this community and it did me good to read your blogs today…so many inspiring posts. I’m happy for Craig who’s decided to enter his first 5K race. That made my day, man! I need to remember that even when I’m in a “funk” as I have been, that’s when I should be visiting your blogs the most. Ya know? Anyway, thank you all for welcoming me into your world and being there for me even when I’m not there for you.

132.9 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
45.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

This race was nothing short of amazing – I’m not even sure my recap here can do it justice. The Run for Music 10K appealed to me because musicians from the Naples Philharmonic would be playing along the route. Really, could it get any better than that? Music is a lifelong passion of mine and running is quickly becoming another so this race was the best of both worlds.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was nervous going into this race because of the back pain I’ve been experiencing. I arrived at the Phil to get the timing chip for my shoe and the gentleman said “you don’t need a timing chip for the 1 mile walk“. I was taken back by his assumption that I wasn’t doing the 10K, but I tried not to take it personal and just politely told him I was doing the 10K and not the 1 mile. Then I made my way over to the start line.

The race began and I decided to walk the first mile to see how my back was feeling. Surprisingly, my back felt fine. Being in the presence of so many athletes motivated me to pick up my pace and start to run, so when I got to Mile 2 that’s exactly what I did:

I’d run for a couple of minutes and then walk a little to catch my breath. I forgot my watch at home, so I just had to guess at trying to gauge my timing, but I think I did OK. My C25K training definitely paid off in that regard.

Somewhere in the middle of mile two I noticed this man and woman going at about the same pace as me. He kept encouraging her to keep on and hearing that motivated ME. At times they’d be in front of me and at other times I’d be ahead, but we really stayed pretty close throughout the rest of the race. It was great having them there to keep me on track. Even when I didn’t think I could run any further, I’d see her start to run again which just inspired me to as well. My official finish time was 1:33:38 which was a 15 minute pace.

Do you see that couple behind me? That was the couple I told you about that really helped push me today. I was so emotional after I crossed the finish line that I just broke down into tears. My husband asked me what was wrong, but it was hard for me to put it into words. Nothing was wrong. I just finished my first ever 10K and I ran a good portion of it even though as of yesterday I was planning to walk the whole thing. Plus, I’ve only ever done 6.2 miles twice (on the treadmill) and both times I finished in 1 hr, 45 minutes. So I took 12 minutes off my best time today!

I approached that couple afterwards and we congratulated each other. I asked if they minded if I mentioned them on my blog. They said no and agreed to a picture:

Their names were Jenny and Joe and it was an honor to meet them. She told me this was her first 10K as well and I asked her what made her decide to do it. She said she had been wanting to do one for a long time and finally decided to just do it. Sounds familiar! Oh, and see those medals on our necks? All finishers received a medal…how cool is that?!?

But really, the true STARS of today’s race were the musicians from the Naples Philharmonic. Wow! Hearing them play such beautiful music along the route was SO awesome!

They were MAGNIFICENT. What a brilliant idea to have them there – this is definitely a race I’d like to do again next year! You can see videos from today’s race that have been uploaded to youtube here.

Click here to see the complete gallery of photos from today’s race. I’ve also updated my Racing page here.

132.9 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
45.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Hal Higdon is a Runner’s World contributor, an author of 35 books, co-founder of the Road Runners Club of America, an avid runner, and offers interactive training programs online. He is also an inspiration to a lot of people, especially someone like me who aspires to run a marathon someday. So, when I learned that he would be doing a meet and greet today, I jumped at the opportunity to meet him and shake his hand.

I wonder if any of his athleticism rubbed off on me just by being in his presence? ha! I can dream, huh? I bought his book, Marathon, The Ultimate Training Guide and he signed it for me:

I also picked up my race packet for tomorrow’s race, the Run for Music 10K. Guess who else besides me is running in it? Hal Higdon himself. I’m really excited about it, but at the same time I’m terribly nervous. I’m not prepared. My workouts have suffered for the last week due to my back pain. At one point I had decided not to run tomorrow, but I’ve since changed my mind and am going to try anyway. Depending on how my back feels, I may have to walk the whole thing. There’s a 2 hour time limit and I know I can walk it in that, so I’m not worried about getting kicked off the route either way. I’m disappointed, because I’d love to see what my time would be if I were able to really push myself and give 100%. My back is what it is though, and I don’t want to seriously injure myself just out of pride. Carrying over 250 lbs around for so many years did a lot of damage to my body and I’m now feeling the consequences of it. I realize that I’m not going to become the ripped athlete I want to be overnight.

The good news today is that I seem to be coming out of the funk I was in for most of the week. It started on Monday and got progressively worse from there, but I’m in much better spirits now. Here’s to a MUCH better week ahead!

126.7 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
45.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Today marks SIX months since I embarked on this journey! A lot has happened in the past six months that has drastically changed my life – in such a positive way. I’ll likely always be a work in progress, but I’m very proud of how far I’ve come in the last six months.

Let’s recap, shall we?

• One of my biggest successes so far is giving up Pepsi. Day 2 was the hardest, but it gets easier each day. I still have dreams that I slip up and drink it though.
• I joined a gym. You can read about my first workout in this post from day 5. Basically, I walked a little more than a mile at 1.5 mph and my face got THIS red from it:

  

• I unofficially joined Steve’s Hot 100 Challenge which helped me stay on track through the end of 2009.
• I started going on walks with my family…a first!
• I had my first Turkey burger!
• I joined Daily Mile and started tracking my workouts there.
• I tried grilled Tilapia and liked it!
• I reconnected with a dear friend from high school and come to find out, she and I were on similar paths to healthiness! She has since started blogging herself.
• My husband got laid off. Not weight related, but definitely affected my mental state and the type of food I could eat for a while.
• I fell and seriously injured my arm…was diagnosed a few days later with a torn bicep. This seriously affected my workouts for several weeks, but I did not give up.
• I planned a healthy menu for Thanksgiving and when my mashed cauliflower didn’t turn out, I didn’t use that as an excuse to gorge on mashed potatoes. I went to plan B instead. It was my first Thanksgiving ever where I had proper portions and all healthy choices!
• I signed up and walked in the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5k...my first ever.
• We celebrated our wedding anniversary in a different way this past year…we brought Olive Garden to us!
• I started C25K and made it through Week 3! (It just took me four months to do it
• I set a goal for myself to walk/jog/run 500 miles for the year 2010!
• I got new sneakers which were MUCH needed.
• I joined the 9-1-1 Fitness Challenge with Lynne and a few others. My final weigh-in for this challenge is on Thursday and I’m hoping to win something!
• I joined Steve’s Perfect 10 Challenge which was the perfect follow up to his Hot 100.
• I started to run! and LIKED it!
• I joined a weekly kickboxing class!
• I tried Zumba, but hated it. LOL
• I conquered my fear and rode my bike.
• I participated in (3) 5Ks so far this year; the Calusa Bug Chase, the Walk for Wishes, and the Hope, Love, and Faith 5k.
• I decided to reward myself!
• I said goodbye to my dear Uncle Larry.
• I’ve learned that this journey isn’t just physical…
• I had a Workout Pledge on my blog and you all helped me get a killer workout in!
• I started eating the Weight Watchers plan
• Michelle, the gym owner, offered to train with me each morning! What a blessing.
• I started C25K again.
• I had my first workout puke!
• I completed a mile in just over 13 minutes!

Last but not least? I’ve met the most amazing people ever! Yes, I mean YOU.

Sorry that was so long. It’s good to look back and realize how far we’ve come…it helps put things into perspective, y’know?

Now for today’s Weigh-in Results:

I weighed in this morning at 208.0 lbs which is a .9 lb loss for the week. This brings my total weight loss so far to 48 pounds. In the last six months, I have lost 18% of my weight and my BMI has gone from 44.1 to 36.8.

I want to state my appreciation to all of you for being there for me through the past six months…without your accountability and encouragement I doubt I would have stuck with it, so THANK YOU and here’s to the next six months!

Here’s something I never thought I’d do…but here goes:

How’s that for exposing myself?

115.5 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
40.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Calories burned? 532
Time spent on treadmill? 1 Hour, 45 minutes
Total distance? 6.01 miles (Farthest EVER for me at once!)

Leaving the gym looking like this:

and this:

PRICELESS!!!

Oh hell yes! What an awesome workout! My face gets SOOO red, doesn’t it? So, now I’m less than 5 miles from reaching my perfect 10 goal, which I shall try to get tomorrow morning before work.

I’m SO motivated!!!

95.11 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
14.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)