7 months ago....

... I completely fell off the "running" wagon. Once I picked myself up and cursed the damn wagon, I dusted myself off and never looked back. Until I was faced with my arch enemy... the scale. That hunk of junk metal told me I weighed 193 pounds and as much as I wanted to call it a liar, I secretly knew the truth. I knew my "fat" clothes were no longer fitting. You girls know what I mean, that pair of jeans or shirt in the back of your closest that you bought reluctantly because your other clothes didn't fit. You didn't really want to buy new clothes because you were going to loose all that weight, but you couldn't squeeze yourself into your normal clothes. Those clothes no longer fit me and still I lived in denial blaming it on all that water weight (yeah right). But seeing those numbers flash up on that spiteful scale I knew it was time to do something. Knowing that I could not do this on my own, I called in the doctor and got the magic pill.

Its not really magic but it did make my appetite disappear. And since I'm always hungry I think I can get away with calling it magic. I know its not the most ideal way to loose weight but after battling it myself for three years I waved the flag of defeat and made the appointment. The first month I didn't think it was working, I wasn't hungry but I didn't feel or look like any of the weight was coming off. So you can imagine my surprise when I went back for my one month appt and the scale said I was 15 pounds lighter. I happily accepted that piece of information, picked up my new prescription and went on my way. In that course of the month I didn't get too many of the awful side effects. The cotton mouth from hell was my biggest problem but I had just lost 15 pounds doing nothing, I will take the side effects. The last week of the first month we took our annual vacation up to the mountains and actually stayed a whole week this time. We hiked up a few waterfalls, climbed a side of a mountain, and canoed on the river (well, i canoed halfway and the wonderful hubby had to get us back). I felt great and had already jump-started an exercise regime so when we returned back to the daily grind, I found myself actually wanting to go to the gym. I found some of my pants starting to get bigger and I was still making healthy food choices (the best perk of the meds I took, I learned how to control my portions and make healthy snack choices). Knowing of my lack of muscle and stamina last summer with my attempts at running, I took special notice in my workouts concentrating on my leg strength and lung capacity.

This brings us to the holidays. I had a minor problem with some dental stuff and because the only way I could make the pain go away was lots and lots of Aleve, I decided it wasn't the best to take with my magic pills. I did good through the holidays, kind of found myself finding excuses not to go the gym (it really is difficult to workout when your mouth is throbbing from pain) but you guys know me well enough that I don't need that much of a reason to use an excuse. I didn't lose anymore weight, but I have done a really good job maintaining it.

Today, with my friend from work, starts my two month personal training. I am 30 pounds down from where I started back in September and have 20 pounds to go. I am down from size 18-16 to a 14 and my shirts are Larges not XL's (in honesty I think i was slightly larger than a size 18 but if an 18 didn't fit, I stopped trying things on). I am no longer taking my magic pills, I want to do the rest on my own. And ironically knowing that I have some pills left over for those weeks where my hunger takes over my life and knowing that I look for any glimmer of an excuse, I don't find myself wanting to take the last 10.

And just maybe... just maybe when I reach my goal I will find myself back to where I began and still want to become a runner. So this blog has now turned into my weight/exercise/dreams of running updates.