In November of 2007 I thought I'd like to try to get back in shape, I was feeling tired and weighed down carting around a baby on my hip plus about four more of them on my ass... my goal was originally a very modest, "I'd like to feel better and be in shape." I didn't want to focus too much on the weight loss because I think I was afraid I'd fail. I also probably wasn't fully aware of how fat I had really become- being a very tall person- I was carrying a a lot of weight spread across a big surface- so I didn't look roly-poly. Sometimes I would imagine my fat, calculated against my college weight, as an object separate from me... I would imagine 50 one pound boxes of butter sitting there on the shelf in the dairy aisle... and then imagine, if like a shoplifter- I could shove all that under my clothes! Oh my goodness- when I went to the feed store and bought a bag of horse feed- imagine, if like one of those "sexual responsibility" exercises they do in highschool where the make the kids cart around demanding faux infants 24/7 ... what if we all have to carry the excess burden that is inside our skin- on the outside as well!? How many days of carrying a 50# bag of horse feed would it take before I said- "You know- I want to be free of this burden!"
Well, I worked out very hard for two months and I did feel better, my clothes started to fit differently- but I did not lose a single pound!! This was very disappointing but I did not give up- and suddenly- pounds started melting off. I has bought into the theory that muscle burns more calories than fat- and by building muscle- I would increase (rather than starve and cripple) my metabolism. Wow- when it finally kicked in- the results were very satisfying.
I went from a size 16 or 14 jeans, now to an 8.
I ran a 5K last summer, and I feel like I look ten years younger (maybe I just FEEL ten years younger!)
These pictures in my "fat jeans" were taken last summer. Since then I have lost another 5 pounds and increased some muscle mass. I'll see if I can dig up a mortifying rare "before" picture as well as an updated today picture.
(Renee is a friend who had some very helpful tips and motivations that kept me focused)
