SUCCESS!

Last May I blogged about the dreaded subject of weight loss where I mentioned that this was an ongoing battle (as it is for a lot of us) and how I could think of every excuse NOT to get into shape but was obviously never motivated enough to actually DO something about it.

Well, this past April I (along with some major encouragement from an amazing friend) decided that enough was enough and made the leap to join Weight Watchers at work. Figured, hey, why not? I have had NO success on my own so how about I learn from the professionals on how to eat properly. I promised myself that I would only focus on one thing at a time, and not get overwhelmed with having to stick to a new eating regime AND getting into a structured exercise schedule. What did I choose to focus on first? FOOD obviously! I had to learn how to evaluate my relationship with food and why I wasn't losing weight (besides the obvious full bag of chips on a very regular basis) and what I had to do about that. This journey has been HARD! Some days way more than others, and I have to say that if it wasn't for my fab friend at work I wouldn't have gotten this far! She has kicked my butt whenever I get frustrated and has praised me when I needed to hear it. We have been real with eachother and I am so very thankful for our partnership through this!

So far I have lost 22 pounds and feeling amazing! I am now smaller than I have been since before I had any of my children and that is coming up to 10 years in January! WOW!! I can't say that I have conquered the battle with food but I am now better equipped to deal with cravings and know that if I lose control (which I often do) I know how to get back on track! The bottom line is....I needed to get to the point where I wanted to be healthy more than I wanted the food!

This now leads me to my next challenge...EXERCISE! There are very obvious reasons to exercise. It's good for you, will aid in weight loss but one of the MAJOR reasons for me is that it can help in fighting any recurrences of cancer. I have read quite a few articles and listened to a lot of stories lately outlining that exercise can actually reduce the chance of cancers coming back. Sign a girl up! The U of C recently opened up a gym for cancer patients and cancer survivors free of charge for this very reason! AMAZING!

I ran tonight for the first time in almost a year and guess what??? It's SOOOOO much easier to run when you are 22 pounds lighter! Go figure! I have always been an off and on kind of runner. Sure I've done some races but did I really enjoy it?? Not really...except the finishing part!! But I'm thinking that now that I've achieved the weight loss part of this adventure and I'm feeling better about myself as a person I can now actually believe in myself to achieve a fitness goal beyond a 5 or 10 km race.

GOALS: I never really understood goals. Not to the point where you actually put a time limit on yourself to achieve something. I was all about the "one day I would like to do that" frame of mind. But I now realize that without that deadline you either just forget about it or FAIL. So now my SIL (goal setter extraordinaire) and I are going to team up and keep the motivation going and be eachother's "Jiminy Crickets" if you will and work towards the Calgary Half Marathon in May.

One NEEDS goals...something to look forward to...something to keep you interested in what you are doing...BRING IT ON!