Monday, June 27, 2016

I have reached my goal weight...

About 4 years ago, I was in amazing shape. I was looking better than I had ever. I was happy with my body and felt really strong.
4 years ago


Then I found out I was pregnant.

Now, some women get pregnant and do great. They have a little tiny ball where the baby is but otherwise nothing changes. But, since this was baby number 3 for me, I already knew my body was going to go insane. My whole body gets pregnant. My butt gets huge. I knew I was in for some weight gain. So, right after I found out I was pregnant I weighed, just to see where I was at my "ideal" weight. It was 134.5.

For 3 years I've been trying to get there. It has been a terrible struggle. During this time, I couldn't blame it all on baby weight. I had eating issues. I took a medication notorious for weight gain. But since December, something "clicked" and I have been losing weight.

I weighed 2 days ago and I am now 132.




I have reached my goal.

It feels really weird.


Now, of course, I'm still super picky about my body. Like, I'd really like to see my legs get more muscular. I still don't feel super confident enough to wear a bikini in front of people. But my arms are muscular again and I'm wearing a size 4 pants.

I went to put on my skinny shorts. They are too big.


So, for now, different goals.

I've decided in December instead of running a half marathon, I'm just going to do the whole thing. I have 23 weeks to train to run 26.2. I can do it.

I'll continue to weight train as much as possible. The last thing I want is to lose my amazing upper body muscles.

So, here we go. New goals. I can do it.
Progress from January to now.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Checking In

Every now and then I look at my blog and I think, "I should post more often"... and then I usually get distracted and forget. But then I'll have something to say that's too long for a Facebook post, and I'll think, "Ok, I should blog that." Well, here I am, blogging infrequently, not making any promises to be consistent or anything...



Weight Loss
I can't remember what my weight was last time I blogged, but since December 2015 I have officially lost 30 pounds. At my heaviest, around Christmas, I weighed 165. I was pretty hopeless. Yesterday I weighed on my scale at home and I weighed 135.2. I'm pretty proud actually.

I made this collage. I can really tell a difference in my arms.
Here's me last Sunday after a run. I just can't smile for some reason.


I credit Thrive, weight watchers, running and lifting with helping me lose the weight. Of course, now that I'm practically at my goal, I am not at the body I thought I would have. Does that make sense? I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing. I think the lifting will help.

Running
Speaking of running, it is going AMAZING right now.  I ran a 5K almost a month ago. It was at the end of the day after a full day at work. I had to take some walk breaks. But my time was still 33:50, even with the walk breaks, so I'm pretty happy with that. Since then I've been consistently running longer than that, so I'm certain my next 5K time will be even better.

I started the half marathon training program put out by the same people that did 5K and 10K runner. I'm on week 2. I'm starting way ahead of my December 11 race date because I want lots of time to repeat weeks if needed and be really strong at the 13.1 distance.

Sunday I started week 2. The scheduled workout was a run (nonstop) of 45 minutes. I felt good so I ran 50 minutes. You guys! I have never run that long in my life! I was pretty proud. This week's "long" run is a run of 54 minutes and I'm pretty confident I'll do it. The only issue is I've pretty much moved inside for the summer because I can't do heat, and the treadmill only goes 60 minutes, so as the runs get longer, I'm going to have to split them up. Whatever, it still counts. Around October I'll start doing my long runs outside again, so I'll be ready for an actual outdoor race.

Team Momentum
Some of you may know the story of my brother. I call him Facebookless Jerry because he's one of the few people I know in the world who does not have a Facebook account. This was a problem while I lived away from this area for about 8 years. But, having recently moved back, I've had the opportunity to spend more time with him.  I help him a lot, taking him to doctor's appointments and doing his laundry, getting him groceries. It's one of my favorite things about being back in my hometown.

So Jerry has a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT). In the 8 years that I didn't see him regularly, his condition deteriorated dramatically. He is no longer able to get himself in and out of bed, and most activities are hard to impossible for him. It really breaks my heart which is why I try to help him as much as I can.

I decided in conjunction with the Dallas Half Marathon to fundraise for Team Momentum. This is the Muscular Dystrophy Association's charity. It is a small way I feel like I can honor Jerry, who really is my hero. Every time I have a pity party, or feel like something in my life is hard, I think about Jerry, and how *everything* is a challenge for him.  I hope this in some way can help give him some hope.

You can visit my fundraising page here, and make a donation if you like. My fundraising goal is $1000, and of course, I would love to exceed  that if possible.

So that's the update. Maybe I can blog more often than once every 3 months. I actually plan to chronicle both my half marathon training and my fundraising efforts, so here's hoping I can keep it up!