Below 200!

First of all, "Happy Birthday to me!" Okay, today is my 28th birthday. It's amazing how age gives a person a little perspective. It's not like I have a ton of perspective but I wanted to share what little perspective I do have. Today is the first time in the last 14 years that I have officially weighed less than 200 lbs. As my "present" the scales said 199 this morning!

What's the perspective?
Well, at 14 I was so much bigger than all the other girls in my class. I was in fine shape...for an adult. At 14, I told myself I was a big, fat cow. At 28, I know I'm hot...smokin' hot as Rachel says!


The other perspective, perhaps the even more important perspective?
For so many years, I had told myself there was no way I was going to be able to lose weight and get into shape. By telling myself that, I literally gave up. I ended up gaining so much more weight. I also gave up on other things in my life. Everything just seemed so hard. Now, I realize that if I can lose 52lbs maybe those other things that I thought I could never do are actually possible! One of those things was riding 41 miles on my bike in a single day last September. Here's what I called it then: that "Thing" (yes it's thing with a capitol T) that you never think you could ever do. We all have at least one "Thing" if not more.

So while this post is a brag post for me, it's also an opportunity for you to realize and think about what your "Thing" is. It may not be weight loss for you. What is it that is stopping you? Please take some time and really think about it. And, know, it's not always quick and certainly not easy but it can be done!

Enough is Enough - Sunny

Unlike Mandy, I can't point to a day that I said, "From today on I change." I can, however, point to a personal low...December 25, 2006. Dad, Andy and I were hiking at Coquille Falls. It's 0.5 miles downhill to see the falls. Did downhill just fine. Coming back out my blood sugar got low, I was fat and out of shape, and that half mile was hell. At one point, I just sat down in the rain and the dirt and cried. Andy tried to cheer me up, "You are doing what you like with people you love." Didn't matter...it wasn't fun anymore.

I had just left an organization that required much of my free-time. Later that day Dad suggested, if I could devote that much time to the organization before, maybe now I could devote that time to me.

I will never know what my highest weight was...I refused to own a scale. And, it would take another 9 months before I got "serious." I tried counting calories over the summer, although I'm not sure how effective that was. I do think it got me in the right frame of mind. I also know jealousy played a role. At our annual August family reunion everybody was excited about Mandy losing 40lbs since April. What the hell? I could do that. I didn't want her to be the only "skinny" one!

At the same time we got a dog and I started Weight Watchers. A dog with lots of energy that needed walks everyday. At first we just went around the block. That's all I could handle. Then pretty soon it was half a mile and by the end of the winter we were walking 2-3 miles in the morning and more in the afternoon. The dog had to leave but the exercise and Weight Watchers stuck.

I too believe that without exercise I would never have lost the weight. I have friends that are into riding bikes. I already rode to work each day (1.5 miles round-trip) but I started added grocery shopping, going to church, other errands, etc. to my daily rides. It's a form of exercise that doesn't feel like exercise to me. I even managed to ride 41 miles on Labor Day 2008! A year before that I had rode 3 miles to church. As soon as I got there, I called Andy and asked him to pick me up after church. I just couldn't imagine riding the 3 miles home. Seriously, I thought I was going to die. What a difference! From sitting in the dirt crying in the rain in the woods to riding 41 miles. I haven't "arrived" and I don't think I ever will...it will be a daily struggle. It has to be - day by day.