Man in My Shadow

I have been taking a little stroll down amnesia lane this week, reading the original blog posts and where we started.  Some of them actually brought tears to my eyes as I think back to how overwhelming this seemed when we started.  I mean to think to yourself, “I want to lose some weight”, is fairly daunting to most people.  To think “I would like to lose A LOT of weight” is scary and seems impossible.  BUT…to put it in writing for the world to see and hold you accountable for…I just don’t have the words to describe what that felt like.

Even as recently as May when I posted some of my goals for everyone to see, I was going out on a limb thinking “well in theory I should be able to attain these goals if I just keep doing the right things”.  Honestly, those were my exact thoughts when I typed the list I have reposted below.

I have added in an update for each one…it is simply amazing what can happen when you make a plan and follow it.  I have not looked at this list again since I posted it.  It was in the back of my mind, and I knew I was working on it, but I followed my own thoughts and just kept doing the “right things”.

Original post May 22, 2012 – October 14th update:

NSVs (hopefully I can do all of this in 2012):

• Shop on the “skinny” side of Dress Barn (when this was posted I was a size 18)
  • Have not been shopping for clothes in a while other than the occasional sale rack at Wal-Mart or Kmart but I will have to go soon to see how things fit.
• Climb 20 flights of stairs without having an asthma attack (when this was posted the most I could do was about 3 flights without stopping for air)
  • I conquered this one in early July and regularly do the stairs as part of my workout with our trainer.
• 50 squats on the Bosu ball (when this was posted I was just learning to stand on the ball and still needed to hold something for balance)
  • This too was accomplished in July.  I have not tried to do 50 squats without stopping, but I can easily do 30 rest for about 30 seconds and repeat without ever stepping down from the ball.
• Make it to a size 14 in jeans and / or dresses (started at 22/24 originally – size 18 when I posted this goal)
  • I am comfortably in size 14 now and can fit size 12 pants depending on how they are made (major happy dance happened in my house when I put on my first 12s that fit)
• Lose enough to have the surgery on my knee
  • I meet with my Dr. on the 24th to see how he thinks I am doing.  I have not seen him in several months and have lost about 25 pounds since he saw me last so my hopes are high.  While nobody really wants to have surgery on anything, if it means less pain and more mobility, I would do it tomorrow if I could.
• Lose 6 more inches total (this would be a total of 28)
  • Currently I have lost a total of 35.5 inches (that is basically 3 feet – holy crap that is a scary number)

Weight goals (steps):

• Make it to 50 pounds lost (212) ( I was at about 221 when this list was posted)
  • I achieved this on 7/1/12
• Drop below 195 pounds(this seemed so far away and I randomly picked this number thinking once I hit 195 I will be firmly in “Onederland” to never ever see the 200s again)
  • 196.2 today – so close I can feel it
• 175 (I can’t even imagine this right now)(this was my original goal of where I wanted to get to and then reevaluate – now my goal is 160)
  • I have this in my sights now, it no longer seems like an imaginary number!!!

The list for this year seemed like it was going to be so hard, and I doubted if I would be able to accomplish even some of it by the end of 2012, and yet, I pretty much did it in 5 months.

In reading back, the beginning was less than two years ago, and yet it seems like a different life time.  We are so different now and our lives have changed so much.  I am proud of what we have done and where we are going!!  And I really want to thank all of the friends and family who support us and encourage us, and all the people who have said we inspired you in some way.  Losing the weight and being healthy is a fabulous reward, but knowing someone else was encouraged by you is immeasurable.

The picture here is a before and current picture in the same “Jill” costume.  Three years ago, we dressed as Jack and Jill for Halloween.  Last weekend I was trying on all my old costumes to see what I could give away, and when I put it on again, Tim said he wanted to take a picture of it.  I said something like “ok, fine, whatever…but hurry up because I am hot in this thing”.  Little did I know he we going to do a side by side comparison for me (he is so smart).  When he called me to his computer to see it, I almost screamed I was so shocked.  (and I did do the happy dance for like 15 minutes)  When you look at the same face and body in the mirror day after day, you can not see it so easily.  You know you are losing weight, you know you wear smaller clothes, but until you can see it in front of you like this, it doesn’t really sink in.

Filed under: Diet, goals, Health, Inside Scoop, Inspiration, Journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, mud run, Other, Overweight, Personal, Uncategorized, Weight Loss Tagged: | diet, Goals, health, inspiration, journal, Journey, Losing Weight, Mens Weight Loss, Obesity, other, Overweight, weight loss