Weight Loss Journey

I joined a gym when my youngest was 6 months old (Dec 05) but didn't really change my eating and drinking habits. I found Sparkpeople.com (A FREE WEIGHT LOSS SITE) in August 2007 via a friend who has done an awesome job of losing over FIFTY POUNDS in one year!!!

On this website, I started tracking my food and realized how MUCH I ate was junkie and full of calories. I began working out harder and eating better in September 2007 and found that this REALLY WORKS! I have struggled with the "rules" of healthy living, thinking I can be the ONE to beat the system (b/c i really like WOW--wine & whiskey) but i'm now on a new path to understanding the truth in the saying "all things in moderation." I've done pretty well with my "lifestyle change"....not DIET!

I started running for the first time in my life in July 2007, and ran my FIRST EVER 5K on Sept 8, 2007. I didn't really take running too seriously and just did the cardio machines mostly at the gym. I then started to think more about running and was going to train to run a half marathon starting in July 2008. So, I ran my second in July 2008 (VERY HOT MUGGY MORNING) and bested my first time by TWO WHOLE MINUTES. I ran my third 5K a few weeks ago (Race for the Cure) and did really AMAZING (at similair time as the July race) considering what has been going on in the past two months (see below).

In addition, on Sparkpeople.com I found a workout buddy who actually belongs to the same gym and we have been working out pretty faithfully once a week (it's tough b/c she works and i have the kids schedules to deal with) for OVER A YEAR NOW! She has been really motivating b/c when we met, she had just lost about (now i'm not remembering correctly, but it was ALOT) 30 pounds and she knows alot about strength training AND NOW she is training for a half marathon (something I was supposed to be doing with her, but you will see why later in this post....).

WELL, HOORAY! I reached my original goal of losing 20 pounds (went from 152 to 132) by my 40th birthday (June 24, 2008)....

....but hit a MAJOR TIME DETOUR shortly thereafter. I wasn't planning it and actually had run a 5K at 6 weeks, but I was pregnant. I started to watch my weight very carefully (continued to exercise but not as intensely and tried very hard to eat healthy but was pretty sick to my stomach most the time). Unfortunately and VERY VERY SADLY we lost the baby at 13 weeks on September 19, 2008. I had a really rough time dealing with the loss.

I guess people deal with depression and difficult times in many ways. You either get really focused on a particular goal or you just don't give a shit about anything. At first I was going to "go gang-busters" and loose any weight I had gained immediately, but then I decided not to focus so hard on my weight and to let myself greive and wallow in my depression for a while --basically not give a shit. Tha included LOTS of bad eating and drinking behaviour....but i also managed to eeeek in some exercise about 3 times a week. I thought that was pretty good that at least ONE habit had somehow stuck a little from all my hard work over the past year.

Now, 8 weeks later i'm starting to bounce back to my somewhat normal self and trying to get back on track with my healthy lifestyle. I'm also not so depressed and starting to feel more grateful for all the good things I have in my life. Tragedies do make us stronger....my spirit was broken but has been built stronger by the pain (much like our muscles are strengthened when they are broken down from strength training---ah, love how i have found some wisdom from my past year of studying and practicing exercise & physical fitness).

ANYWAYS, back to the weight-loss journey:
I gained about 10 pounds with the pregnancy and I'm now starting out at around 142 to get back to my original 132 that I had acheived back in June 2008.

I'm still dealing with alot of emotional issues (especially with the added stress of my young kids craziness, and my dad and friends' cancer battles). I am also really MAD at myself for letting myself go for the past 8 weeks....these first 10 pounds are going to be HELL to get rid of, but i'm really, REALLY focused now to lose it! But i'm not going to totally beat myself up and will be taking some "baby-step" goals to get back on track.

Initial goals:
A. Get under 140 THIS WEEK (Nov 10 thru 16).
B. NO Alchohol and NO Sweets til Turkey Day (Nov 27)
C. Get back to 135 by Christmas.
D. Get to 125 by next birthday (June 24, 2008)
E. Try to whittle down my 5K time to 30 minutes (basically a 10 min mile).

GREAT, so now that I've told the "world" of blog readers (of mine, there are few so I shouldn't be too worried) and now I have to follow through on these goals. I'm not good at following through for myself, but if I tell others about it then I feel like such a loser if I can't do what I said (out loud) I was going to do....

if you want to follow my weight loss, you can go to my sparkpage http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=GOSHEILA
where I blog about it and you can sometimes review what I ate and what kind of exercise I have completed. I say "sometimes" on the eating and exercise part b/c I may turn that part off if i'm particularly embarrased by my progress.