I did my first 5K today!!! :)

One year ago, my friend asked me to do a 5K walk/run. I was about 315 pounds at the time. I physically COULD have completed it, if I walked very slowly. The main thing that kept me from doing it was the mental aspects. I didn't want to be the morbidly obese lady that everyone whispered about. Plus, I had an "I can't" attitude. So I said, "Not this year, but next year for sure."

Today WAS that next year and I'm so excited that I did my first 5K!! I've lost a lot of weight since then but the main thing I've lost is the "I can't" attitude. Guess what-- I CAN! and I did! :) (You can too.)

I was #64 out of 94 ladies, #15 out of 22 in my age division. My time was 49:03 which is 2 minutes faster than my fastest time in training. My feet hurt. NEXT YEAR is going to be even more awesome because I won't be carrying around 70 extra pounds. :)

If they would have divided up people into categories of how overweight they are, I would have the best time for the "still carrying 70 pounds of excess weight" division. LOL!

I can't wait to compare this year's pictures and times with next year's. :) I want all of you to do it next year too! Seriously, If I can, you can.

Hubby and some other TOPS members represented our chapter at the area fun day today. Our chapter won the award for "Best Average Loss Per Member" for the quarter, with a 9 pound per member average. I've got such a motivated and "making great changes" group. Goodness, I'm proud of them!!!! (the other girl in the top picture is from our group and she rocked the 5K today!)

Tonight hubby is cooking bbq chicken on the grill. It is 4:30 p.m. and I'm already in my gown. I'm so tired but today has probably been one of the top 10 best days of my life!!! :)

Thank you, Jesus, for helping me---for I can't even walk without you.

Annual fast

In 2 days, it will be a year since I declared a 118 day fast from #1 soda, #2 fast food and #3 dessert. At that time, I was 118 days above goal and that's why I picked 118 days. I had such strong chains of addiction binding me and no matter how much I fought, I couldn't get free from them. During the fast, I lost my chains.

So, here I am a year later. As of today's weigh-in, I'm 74 pounds above goal. And just this past month, the chains have come back. They are still lose. I can get them off. They aren't tight. But if I DON'T get them off and I mean NOW, then they will continue to tighten and I will be in the same bondage as before. Why wear chains when you don't have to?

Therefore, beginning today, I'm going on a 74 day fast from the 3 things as last year, plus one more. #1 no soda (This isn't an issue anymore. I pretty much never drink soda now anyway) #2 No fast food. #3 No dessert (this has been a biggie for me lately) and #4 No going over calorie limit at all (because sometimes I say "oh well" and just eat what I want. But not during this fast. When my calories are gone, I'll be done for the day)

I just needed to speak this! I believe God will honor it, as he honored it before!

~I refuse to be bound~

This is reality.

I have made such HUGE changes in my lifestyle that it is easy to sometimes give them impression that I am now perfect. I am not. The past 3 days have been a real struggle. I want to be transparent here, plus I think blogging about them will help me deal with them, so here goes.

Short story: I'm tired and stressed.

Short story about stress:
CAMP>>>I leave in 3 days to go to work at a youth camp for 5 days and will miss my husband. We didn't have enough appropriate clothing for the children and I to have the necessary 2 outfits per day, so I've been searching here there and everywhere (thrift stores and regular stores) for clothes that fit, are appropriate and inexpensive. It has taken a lot of time and I'm so confused I'm not even sure we are finished.
MONEY>>>We don't have enough to pay everything that needs to be paid right now. I won't elaborate--most of you can relate.
DAD>>>This week my dad has been very sick and the doctor said he things dad may have cancer. Dad doesn't read or write well and I have been taking him to his appointments and everything.

Short story about tired: Because of all of the busyness and mental drain of the above stress PLUS.........the past 3 days I have eaten wAAAY too much JUNK because of business and that stupid comfort food thing, and you know what junk food does to you? It makes you tired and want more junk!


And so..................that's reality guys! And I'm SO going to slap it's face and tell it to get over itself because I have a plan and I'm going to win!

The plan: (I am hungry, craving junk, and there's not a lot to pick from in the kithen) Tonight>>> eat 800 calories of whatever for supper. Tomorrow>>>fast (I was planning to fast a day before youth camp anyway. It's for religious purposes but the health benefits are great too!) Also tomorrow>>>plan Sunday's meals and pack healthy foods to take to camp. Sunday>>>> eat what I planned and be back on track 100%.

That is all. :)

70 pounds lost--half way there!

I sure hope you can tell which is before and which is now! I've proven that I CAN lose 70 pounds..now I just have to do it AGAIN! And I will, with God's help.

(And for the person who asked about the newspaper article--it was about my weight loss and it went great and it was an honor!)