My Weight Loss Journey

I can't believe I am FINALLY able to write this post! It feels as if it has been a long {and rewarding} time coming.

I have finally lost 50 pounds 52.5 if we want be exact as of today!

I've been asked by a few blogging friends/twitter friends how I have lost the weight, so I thought I would take a moment and share with you what I have done throughout the last 2 years to take the weight off.

I will start off by telling you that I previously was deathly afraid of numbers! {i.e. I wouldn't check my bank account because that number kept decreasing, and I wouldn't step on the scale because that number continued to creep up}. I vowed to myself in January 2010 that I would no longer be afraid of numbers and I would start doing something about it!

I honestly did not step on the scale unless it was at the doctors office, so the heaviest that I ever weighed in at the doctor was 195 in the Fall of 2009. {GASP! did I really just put that number out on the www for EVERYONE To see!} And at the time of stepping on the scale, I had to be okay with the number.... I told myself, the day I reach 200 is the day I need to work on my weight. My other rationale that I took, was no one goes on the Biggest Loser under 200 lbs so what am I worried about?!

If I only knew then what I know now!

In January 2010 there were 10 of my good friends from college who decided to compete in a biggest loser competition. There was money on the line. My first weigh in for the competition was 189.5 lbs. We started the competition the same day as the new season of Biggest Loser aired, so I was less intimidated to step on the scale because I felt as if I was just like the other contestants at this point in time. It was the season where they had to face the crowd and declare their weight to everyone, and I did the SAME thing to myself in the mirror.

You know how hard it is to say you are 189.5lbs when you are in denial that you are overweight/obese based off of the BMI scale? At the age of 26, and the only person making myself this way, is me?!

Thats a tough reality!

So I was determined to win the biggest loser competition among my friends. Ashley encouraged me to start training for a 1/2 marathon... ummm excuse me, at this point, I only ran if I was being chased. But I figured I wanted the money so I should probably try it.

I started training for the 1/2, mainly walking, some running, and shed 27lbs in 5 months. I ended up winning the competition and feeling good about my weight loss and how far I had come.

The competition ended in June, and by July, I was eating like my normal self again, not worrying about the weight I was packing back on, not working out as much, and just reverting back to the "old Lindsey" so quickly it was scary.

In December 2010, I joined a gym. {Yes, I pay $170 in condo dues every month and there is a facility connected to the club house, however there are 3 treadmills and one that I'm lead to believe is the first treadmill ever made - there aren't side rails on the side of it! seriously!} So I figure, if I'm paying $28 a month to belong to a huge workout facility, I'm going to use it. I started to seriously train for the 1/2 marathon that was coming up in May 2011 and vowed not to let my self creep back up to my old weight.

In January I was approached once again by a friend to see if I wanted to participate in a Biggest Loser competition. UGH! Seriously? another one of these things? but once again, I'm motivated by money, so I signed up determined to go 2-0 on these competitions.

I continued to train for my 1/2 by running all the training runs, and completed my second 1/2 marathon in May 2011 {hurt IT band and all}.

Unfortunately in this biggest loser competition I finished second, only to a guy who had also previously one a weight loss competition at his work! But we are all winners when it comes to weight loss {i know corny, but i truly believe that!}

So now the competitions are over, and I need a reason to stay motivated to continue on my weight loss journey. I have continued to run {two 1/2 marathons} and I have continued to watch my food intake. I have a goal weight of reaching 140lbs and then I just want to maintain from there. I'm only 2.5lbs away from my goal! I can feel it in my reach, and it feels SO good!

I will be the first one to tell you this journey has not been easy, however it has been more rewarding than I would have ever thought!

Please let me know if you have any questions that I can potentially help answer for you? I'm by no means a fitness guru, nor am I licensed dietician, however, I will gladly give you my advice and what I have learned throughout the past 2 years.

Tomorrow I will post about how I changed my lifestyle {food, exercise, ect}