Welcome to my first blog and thank you for stopping by! I've been told many times that I should "do a blog". Huh? I wondered who would be interested in reading what other people are doing--especially relatively normal, kind of boring me?? Well, we'll see, I guess!
So, as you can tell from the title, I'm over 40. 44 to be exact. And I run. Well... I jog at a moderate pace. And FINALLY, I'm losing weight. For now, anyway. I, like many, have been here before...many many many times. I've had one successful stint at losing weight and maintaining it for a few years. Then, enter 2 pregnancies, quitting smoking, getting divorced, starting smoking again, major job changes, quitting smoking again, hormonal challenges (mid-life psychosis anyone??), and LOADS of ice cream, and you have the perfect concotion for reaching a peak of 200something lbs (nope, not brave enough to put it ALL out there...). Ugh. Yuck. So, I started running (my definition of it, anyway) about 2 years ago. I love food. There is no way around that and I don't see it changing anytime soon. I figured running would allow me to burn off at least as many calories as I was taking in. That's the formula for weight loss, right?? Right??!! Uhhh...maybe not. Initially, with A LOT of work, I did lose about 20 lbs. And I ran the Disney 1/2 Marathon in January 2009. I could barely walk for 2 days afterwards, but I did it. The memory still chokes me up....quite an accomplishment for a fat, middle-aged, non-runner. Post-race, I took some time off to heal and plan my next race. During that time, those 20 lbs I'd lost found me. Apparently, they'd been following me around patiently waiting for me to slow down enough to tack themselves back on. Which they did....quite successfully. And back to the drawing board I went. In the meantime, my body was doing those mid-life things that happen to women and I no longer could predict what was going to happen nor when and I found that my metabolism was not what it had been. I swear, sniffing cookies would result in a pound or 2 extra. I kept running and working out and at least figured out how to maintain my weight and not continue that upward spiral. Now, I'm working with a nutritionist and following a 1200 calorie diet of part food, part protein shakes. What a God-send. I have now lost about 37 lbs since early June. I feel amazing and am running faster and feeling better doing it. I've kept moving with a variety of 5K races but I've upped the proverbial ante-- I'm running the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon in February and hope to complete the Disney Coast to Coast challenge by completing the Disneyland 1/2 marathon in September of next year.
So, that's my intro! If you're still reading, I owe you big time!! LOL! I'm not sure what my posts will involve nor how often I'll write but now I can at least say I've "done a blog"! Any ideas are welcome!
"Talk" to you soon!
