My inspiration?
There are several. Let me start a few months back. At my yearly visit to the doc in August 2010, I weighed 180 pounds. I am 5'5. It didn't seem like I weighed that much (although I knew I did but refused to deal with it). Just so you know, that stupid chart in the exam rooms listed me as obese for my age, height, and weight. I did my normal whining that I just couldn't lose any weight no matter how hard I tried and damn my hypo-thyroid and I was so busy and blah. blah. blah. But then I had to answer the tough questions.
What are you eating? Whatever I can get my hands on.
How often are you eating? Constantly, whether I am hungry or not.
You're not a smoker, right? Not for 18 or so years. (At least I had that going for me..)
How many drinks do you have per week? Ugh. Well, how many can you get out of a bottle of wine? Times that by 7 days.
Are you doing any physical activity? Does getting out of bed in the morning count? Other than that, I go to the YMCA sporadically and expect to wake up looking like Gabby Reese.
You can see the pattern here. When you cannot pack your ass into any article of clothing that you own and feel comfortable and beautiful something tends to trip your trigger. Not to mention that I was not interested in enduring the barrage of medical testing that was looming in the event that I didn't lose something. I left the doctors' office with an appointment for February to check my progress.
I ate and drank my way through the holidays. I popped over to the Y occasionally, and went on mini-binges of eating oh-so-healthy for a couple of hours at a time. New Years came and went. The weight did not.
Finally, with the February appointment just a few weeks away, I decided that I needed help. I was not going to do this on my own and the constant reminders from my husband were just pissing me off. (He is very supportive but was tired of listening to me whine about my weight while I stood in front of him with a bottomless glass of wine and a chocolate chip cookie.) A friend of mine had been working with the Wellness Cafe for several months, and had given me a brochure to look at. I called and made an appointment.
I started the meal plan on January 31. To date, I have lost 16 pounds. My goal is 30 so I am half-way there. Perhaps the best part about the Wellness Cafe is that they expect you to learn about what you are putting into your body. I am not going to lie - the first week I cried at night because I was so hungry. I had to give up wine, soda, cupcakes, potato chips...pretty much everything I survived on. The Wellness Cafe provides my lunch, snack and dinner Monday through Friday. On the weekends I am on my own. The interesting thing about this whole process is that I have become an avid label reader and recipe researcher. We have weekly nutrition meetings and the amount of information I have learned is amazing.
At my initial consultation, I learned about the Running rEVOLUTION. Julie, one of the clean eating gurus at the Wellness Cafe, suggested that I give it a try because one of my goals was to be able to run a 5K. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had heard about this inspirational group of women but due to my fitness level and lack of motivation I had never checked it out. Thank God that I just sucked it up and sent in my registration.
Talk about auras and energy! The first rEVOLUTION meeting I was nearly frightened back to my car from the music jamming out the door and the gleam of smiling faces. I saw people I knew - people I never thought would be runners - but they were and they LOVE IT! We meet once a week for a presentation, information and then we break into groups to run. We have a training plan to work on independently throughout the week.
At the rEVOLUTION, we are not pushed. We are encouraged. Encouraged to be better, do better, to make new friends and be supportive of each other. The energy that comes from this gathering is phenomenal, and that may have been my incentive to keep running. I love that we are such a diverse group but we are all the same.
So on Tuesday, I figured I would run a couple blocks and then simmer down to a brisk walk. Once I got going, I just couldn't stop. I loved it! It wasn't nearly as painful as I remembered or anticipated. It was amazing.
What's my future? I don't know. I am proud that I have finally taken the time and initiative to find the support I need and taken control of my physical being. I feel like I am starting to heal the frustration, pain, and insecurity that has been plaguing me for the past several years. When I ran the 1.5 miles the other night, it felt like I was starting on a journey and there was nothing that could get in my way. What's that sound? It's my engine revving.
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