It's been quite a year!

It was a year ago that I decided I had to change my life. Don't know why Memorial Day was the day, but it was!  And what a year of change it has been! I didn't change the big things, like husband or family... just the everyday choices that made for an overweight and unhealthy me.

So, let's recap.

My first weigh-in for Weight Watchers had me at 173. ouch. I weighed on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. I did so purposely because I knew that weighing in on Monday mornings would be difficult after the weekend. Loosing the weight was going to be hard enough, I didn't the need emotional ups and downs of a Monday morning ouch!

Here is a picture right before I started on the new me.

 

Looking at that picture makes my heart hurt. I'm so glad I did something. In the the first three weeks I lost 11 pounds.  The below picture is me at the one month mark. I started running and even exercised while at the scrapbook retreat. But oh these pictures are not kind.

 

Sometimes we need to see the brutal reality we have created for ourselves.

 

Over the next couple of months as the weight came off and I exercised more, a new me began to emerge.

 

 

And then in August, I got up the nerve to start running with some ladies. This was huge! The idea that I could run with others.. crazy! This changed my world. I went from running 3 or 4 miles tops to knowing that I could keep a decent pace and run more miles. Awesome!!

So I decided to run a 10k. I hadn't even run a 5k in 15 years, but heck, I've never let things like that get in my way! And I did it and found out through the process that I love running and love races!

From October 20th to this past weekend I ran nine races. Five 5ks, one 10k, two half marathons and one adventure race!

 

 

And there you have it. I met my original Weight Watcher goal in November and got as low as 136 on December 11th. Then the holidays hit and the winter blahs and then the crazy spring..Today I am at 142. I'd really like to get to 135, but I'm not putting much pressure on myself as summer is about here and I get to start water aerobics!!

 

I think what I have been most amazed at over this year is that while I have lost a lot of weight, I have dropped a lot of sizes. I never imagined that I would wear size 6 jeans and small shirts. So yeah, I'd like to loose a few more pounds, but really, that's more about my mental issues with the scale cause I sure am happy with the me that has been uncovered!

 

 

oh and I've started training for a marathon!