Change Takes Courage

 
I recently reached not one but two serious goal weights that I had set for myself last summer, 50 lbs and 4 pant sizes ago (and counting). I am absolutely floored. There were good days and bad, but slowly the numbers on the scale started to drop… and then they started to plummet. As I became more excited about my progress, I started sharing my journey with friends, family, and sometimes even complete strangers. The amazing amount of support, words of encouragement and questions I received in return was overwhelming.

Have the courage to change your life.

But what it really takes is making the decision to put one foot in front of the other, to get up when you’re feeling down, and to do it at your own pace. Make a plan and stick to it, cut through the bullshit, and power through your excuses. And it’s true that sometimes it’s hard, but the important thing to remember is that you are doing this for you and you are worth fighting for.

Willpower is neither inherent nor epic in nature, it is formed by the struggle between doing what we want vs what we need.

Exercising WILL make you feel happier, eating better WILL make you feel better. You don’t have to starve yourself, but you don’t have to eat a pint of ice cream in one sitting either. You don’t have to go to the gym 4 hours a day, a 30 minute walk 3x a week can make a HUGE difference (and set you up for the Couch to 5k schedule!). It can take serious effort on our part to move past our own internal struggles with healthy and happy as well as right and right now, but those feelings are a choice, and we are all capable of making them. It really is as simple as making what we need into what we want for ourselves.

How I did it

I started running and I stopped eating. Well, not entirely, but I stopped eating the stuff that was actually damaging my body. I cut out processed foods (accept granola bars, which are totally my weakness) and started eating whole foods, whole vegetables, good quality meat, little to no bread or pasta. I stopped eating just to eat and started actually listening to what my body needed and wanted. I started to take the time to enjoy my food instead of just shoveling it happily into my face. I ate less because more was unnecessary, and now I find myself having to share meals because I can’t possibly eat a normal restaurant sized plate of food by myself. I try everything, but only until I am full; life is a tasting menu, not a buffet.

What’s next

In July I ran my first 5k, the Color Run, after 2 months of being on the Couch to 5K program. Last week I decided to do the Broad Street Run next year. I started training with the Couch to 10k program and after the Le Grand Continental performance weekend was over I started shifting my focus from weight loss to strength training. My next goal is 20 more lbs, a size 8, to regain some serious muscle definition, and generally be as bad-ass as possible.

A year ago, I never would have said that I’d be climbing waterfalls, or passionately motivating others to take up running. (I mean, I never thought my midsection would see the light of day ever again, and here I am, posting a pic of it on the internet! lol) It has taken me the last 6 months to get to the point where I felt that I could actually do the work required to completely transform my body.

Trust me, there were some dark days, there were plateaus, and even upswings in my weight and downswings in my energy that just plain sucked. But I powered through and took each day one at a time, each weigh-in for its own merit. I started tracking other measurements like inches, BMI and resting heart rate (which has gone down by about 25 bpm in 3 months) and my former per-hypertension blood pressure has even started to enter the “athletic” zone. I have so many good things coming my way because I had the courage to change, and that courage may have very well saved my life; if I can do it, you can absolutely do it too you just have to believe that you are capable of anything, because you are.

What have you done today that seemed impossible yesterday? What will you be able to do tomorrow?