Weight Loss Wednesday

Oh, goodness. Where do I start? I wanted to share something informational for you guys like I used to on my old weight loss Wednesday posts that I deleted a while back....but it may have to wait until next week to keep this post from being too long. I have some other great news to share today! Let's start simple...I lost 1.4 pounds this week for a total loss of 18 pounds! Wow. That in itself is just amazing. I wanted more than the 1.4 of course, but that's not bad for being so sick this week. I made sure to eat every few hours, even if it was just a bite. I was on the couch a lot, but got my workouts in still. Drank as much fluids as I could.

The next great thing...I fit into my first goal skirt today. I bought it at the start of this journey and I can finally wear it comfortably! I have been waiting for the money to buy a shirt to go with it, and things just weren't working out for me there. I pulled out some totes from the closet a couple days ago, to see if I could fit into any of the smaller clothes I had stored in there. Sure enough, I was able to wear several things, and one of them just happened to be a nice white Coldwater Creek shirt with lace trim, that will go perfectly with my first goal skirt! Thank you Lord! So, I already know what I will be wearing to church!

I have lost a total of 17 inches off my body! 2 1/2 inches off my waist, 2 inches off my torso, more than an inch off of each thigh and 2 inches from my hips! I've even lost almost an inch around my neck! I'll spare you all the measurements, but how exciting to see the changes in so many different ways! The numbers on the scale, the numbers on the tape measure, how my clothes fit, what I see in the mirror, and lastly and most importantly....in my health!

Which brings me to my last exciting thing for today. I went to the gym to turn in my key card and thank them for my free month. After talking for a minute about my progress, the manager offered me another month and a half free! That way I could wait until August to start paying for my membership, after we're done saving for our trip! How great is that? She didn't want to see me lose the progress that I had made. How wonderful! Thank you Lord, again! So, I'm still going every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I even went this Saturday and yesterday when I was sick...(don't worry, we disinfect the machines after we use them anyway..club rules!)...and boy was I glad I went last night. Something amazing happened last night! I started out with a mile on the stationary bike like always, and then I moved on to all the weight lifting machines I use, then I went on to the elliptical to finish it out. My sinuses were clear, for the first time in days and I felt good. I decided to hop on the treadmill and see if I could run for a couple minutes. I am NOT a runner. I have exercise indused(however you spell that word) asthma and can't really run outside, and still have trouble running inside. Plus, I have a really bad left knee from a motorcycle wreck when I was a teenager. Even when we ran 3 miles a day for volleyball back in Jr. High, I often had to wear a knee brace and use my inhaler. Well, I don't have a doctor here, and I don't have a knee brace. So the most I can do, is run for a minute, and then walk for a couple minutes, and then run for another minute, and so on. I'm usually done after 2-3 times of running. Well, I got on the treadmill and started running right off the bat. I began thinking, what if I could run a quarter mile? Then at the quarter mile mark, I thought, I wonder if I could make it to a half a mile? I haven't done that in 2 years. As I neared the half mile, I thought, you know what? I'm going to run a whole mile. How great would it be to be able to say that I ran a whole mile?! I'm sure I'll have to stop at 3/4 of a mile, but how awesome would it be to run a mile...that would be so much better to say than "I ran for 3/4 of a mile." It wasn't until I reached about .83 of the mile, that I realized I really could do it. It was amazing! For years I've watched people run and wished that I could do that. I've tried so many times over the years to run that mile. I've wanted to so bad. I can lose weight, I've done it time and time again, but to run a mile, that's been unobtainable. You know how this is going to end! I ran the WHOLE MILE! Never stopped once, controlled my breathing, and my thoughts. Ran as gracefully as I could, to not do too much damage to my knee. I just couldn't believe it. Do you know how long it's been since I ran a mile? 13 years! The weight loss is great, but I've done that before. I'm stronger than most women I know, I've always had a lot of muscle, that's nothing new. But yesterday, I ran a whole mile and I haven't done that since I was 15. I reached the unobtainable! Plus, I did it at the end of my 2 hour workout, and while I was sick!

I had to call my dad right when I left, and tell him. When I got home, and told hubby, I started crying. He thinks I'm silly, but I just can't express into words what that mile meant to me. I am finally getting my health back at a time where I feel like I have little control over it. I have all these health issues that I can't go see a doctor for, and it really stresses me out sometimes and concerns me to no end. But amongst all those, I reached a health goal that I have so longed for, for quite sometime! So, there you have it. That's my great news for today! I'll try to have a health tip, or recipe up next week, but I just had to share this today!