Soooo, I am doing really great! My last post I was struggling SOOO bad with getting under 200. It was driving me insane! Well, finally, on the morning of April 20th I weighed myself and saw this.....
I pretty much cried. I saw that number for about 5 days in 2007 (I immediately started to gain weight back and the rest is history) and before that I can't remember how long it had been. Probably sometime in 2003 or 2004. I got married in 2002 and started gaining weight shortly after. Haven't really been in the 100's since the first year or so I was married. It is almost surreal. It is also coincidentally my drivers license weight. :) I am so excited to see a number that doesn't start with a 2...it feels like I won the lottery!
So that was a few weeks ago, and seeing that number really got me pumped up for the last couple weeks of my 90 day challenge. Final weigh-in was May 11th and I was really focused on winning!! :) I really tried to be as perfect as possible with the eating and water (TONS of water!) and I also stepped up my workouts a bit. With Jami and Aaron's encouragement I did a few new things in that department. We did another 5K run (this time in 40:50!! Woo hoo!! Can't wait for a sub 40;) as well as some treadmill runs on my own. Aaron took me out one session for some crossfit type stuff...I got to push/pull the prowler for the first time AND flip tires for the first time! Along with some hill runs (UGH!) and some box jumps (onto the tire!! Woot woot!!) it was an AWESOME workout!! Finally, in last week of the competition Jami and I jogged over to the local high school to run bleachers.
Let me just say that even the stairmill is a challenge for me...I don't know why but stairs are just really hard for me. I was really excited to run the bleachers, but I quickly learned that I was totally unprepared for their difficulty. We started off and I was pretty strong at first, but just a couple flights later I was winded and so short of breath. At one point I even started to panic a little because I felt like I just couldn't breath. Jami is so incredibly supportive and kind. I was struggling but she was totally encouraging. We got the breathing under control and pushed on. A little while later (we would do the bleachers through down one direction, then run the track, do some stretchy/lungey stuff on the field, then start bleachers again) we were about halfway through the bleachers the second time I started to get into my head. My legs were aching and my breathing was so labored...I just started to go to that bad place I do when things get really rough. When I struggle, I find that there is a fine line between feeling that crazy motivation (yeah! I can do this! I'm gonna kick ass!!) and the place where I just totally start to beat myself up. I start getting pissed off at myself...I start thinking "well, here you are, you wouldn't even have to be doing this right now if you hadn't let yourself get so fat!!" and "of course you can't breath, look at you! You can't do this!!". All that nasty mean crap that I used to hear in my head all the time. It just really started to get to me. I'm not going to lie, I had a little mini-breakdown. Coming down the stairs I just started to cry...I couldn't help it. And God love Jami, that sweet girl, my friend, she put her arm around me and just let me. We had a little talk and I got it out, let it pass and you know what? I felt better. I think that that workout was just so new and so challenging...it was just so hard for me, you know? And I just had to work through that to get past it and move on. It's been a long time since I have felt defeated or so emotional in a workout...this was just a reminder of where I came from and how far I've come. I'm glad it happened because I feel like now I am even more capable and more ready for even harder challenges...I am excited to get better at these things...to face them instead of fear them. It really had little to do with the physical challenge of the bleachers and all to do with the mental journey this has been and continues to be. I am proud that with Jami's help I got past it, continued the workout, and even did the bleachers through one more time (albeit pretty slow haha:).
So....yesterday was the big weigh-in. I had been so excited/anxious/pumped/nervous/lots of other emotions about the whole thing so I was ecstatic that the day was finally here. My ultimate goal when I started was (well, to win, but otherwise...) to get under 200 pounds. I am SO proud and excited and happy to tell you that I weighed in at 191.4. That, my friends, is a 35.2 pound, 15.5% weight loss in 90 days. It's so funny because for a week or two I was stuck right at 30 give or take a pound, but Aaron kept telling me, it's going to be 35. I kept telling him not to hold his breath because I didn't want him to be disappointed!! But lo and behold, he was right. I don't know yet if I won the contest or not, we should find out in a day or two hopefully (I can't wait to find out!!!!), but either way I am SO happy with my results. Jami took before and after pictures and I really was shocked at the differences. When you look at yourself every day in the mirror, it's harder to tell differences but looking at 2 pictures side by side, 90 days apart, the changes stand out. Here they are:
Sorry this turned into a book...I guess that's what happens when I don't write for a month! Lots more I want to post about but I'll save it for another day. Hope everyone has a fantastic week! :)
