I Did It!

I did something today that I thought I never would do.  6 months ago I would have laughed at you had you told me I would be doing this.  3 months ago...I would have said "Never!"  But I did.  And I am both terrified and thrilled.

Baby Number 3 was a killer on my body.  I knew this would be my last "free-pass" to eat what ever I wanted, so I did.  Caramel Blue-Bell Milkshakes every night before bed (hey, I needed the dairy!), 2-3 Big Macs a week (I craved the special sauce), and ohhh did I indulge in the cookies!!!  Needless to say, I gain a large amount of weight.  When Bubba was around 8 months old, I was ready to do something about it.

When working full-time, I tried many different diets.  The Adkins diet left me wanting to attack anyone eating carbs within 50 feet of me.  The "You" diet was sensible, but BORING.  I never took the time to figure out Weight Watchers, so I chalked it up as "confusing".  And the cabbage soup diet left me bloated and hating bananas.

I researched for weeks the best way to diet and the most sensible one was simply to count my calories.  AND IT WORKED!!  There is a fantastic app that I used on my iPhone (Lose It!) that tabulates everything I eat for the day that kept me completely accountable.  The best part of it was discovering that I can eat whatever I wanted, as long as I kept it under a certain amount of calories to reach my goal.  I started off really strict and discovered so many great foods that I enjoyed that were low calorie.  As the months went by and I started to shed weight, I allowed myself to indulge a little on the weekends.  My family LOVES pizza, so I would enjoy a slice or two, as long as I had a good week.  And I finally found a recipe for my beloved margarita that I could enjoy without the guilt!

But eating healthy was only half of it.

I hate exercising.  Did you hear me loud enough?  HATED IT!!  Until I forced myself.

I started doing the Jillian Michael's The Shred dvd along with several of you out in bloggyland.  We held ourselves accountable for a good month or so, shredding away every day...expecting to look just like Miss Jillian in 60 days.  um..no.   But it was a hard workout and while I cursed everyday while doing it, I am glad I stuck with it.

I also started the Couch to 5K running plan in January.  Once again, my iPhone came in handy with a great app that told me when to run versus walk.  I would strap the baby into my jogging stroller, bundle him up, and off we would go!  Now remember how I hated exercising...running was at the top of that list.  So why on earth would I start something I hated to do to lose weight?  Because I always admired runners- they were healthy, had some crazy "love" to run, and looked so great.  Could that possibly be me someday??

I invested in a good pair of running shoes (my hubby forced me to pay the money), a Polar HR monitor (to accurately count my calories...the more you burn in your workout, the more you go to eat that day!!), and a few more of JM's dvds since The Shed can get a little boring after 3 months.

Slowly the weight came off.  
Slowly my clothes started to get baggier.
Slowly I started to lose my late night snack cravings.
Slowly I started to crave exercising.
Slowly I needed to buy smaller sizes.
Slowly I crept to my goal weight.....and past it.

I started increasing my distances in my runs.  I started running with actual runners....and could call myself a runner.   I started aiming to burn twice as many calories then I did when I first started. I went on vacation...and still exercised.  I went down 10 pounds past my goal and am in a size I haven't been in since before college.

I run with a dear friend.  We just naturally started running together months ago.  In June she told me she was going to run her first half-marathon.  I was proud of her and told her good luck.

We kept running together and I kept increasing my distances with her.  Last week we ran 10 miles.  TEN MILES!  I shake my head in amazement.  Only because 6 months ago I would think you were crazy if you told me you ran 10 miles.  Now it's do-able.  Now it's another distance.  Now it's fun.  And tomorrow we run 11.

So what did I do that has me terrified? thrilled?  I signed up to run the Half too.  On November 14, 2010 at 7:00 a.m.  I will be running the San Antonio Half-Marathon.  wow.  that still shocks me.  I never wanted to run a distance race like that until I forced myself out of my comfort zone and tried something new.

I am excited.

I am nervous.

I always believed that you could do anything you put your mind to....now I just proved it.