First, we'll go all the way back to July 8, 2012 when I created my blog, Fat Neaux More. I had retired on June 30, 2012 and I was ready to tackle this weight problem ONCE AND FOR ALL!! This time the weight loss would stick. I would be FAT NEAUX MORE!! Since I was retired, I would have plenty of time to plan and make meals, exercise, and any other tasks associated with getting and staying fit. And, with so much time on my hands, I would do a little blogging. With my blog, I'd help myself and hopefully others, get and stay motivated to be fit, healthy, and last, but certainly not least....thin. I'd be determined, disciplined, devoted (alright, enough with the d words!), and blah blah blah! Well, that lasted about six weeks. Though I really enjoyed blogging at first, it started to feel like work, and I wanted no part of 'work'! I had just retired, for Pete's sake!!
On August 15, 2012, I joined TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly). I, was on that day at my highest weight ever (by one half pound). By December 5, 2012, I had lost a whopping ten pounds (please note that's sarcasm!)! Seriously, ten pounds in four months?! My first thought to that was...how sad! But, when you've ridden the weight roller coaster as much as I have, you come to realize that down is good. Yes, no matter how small the number....down is good. By the time the new year rolled around, I had gained five and one half of those ten pounds back.
On to January, 2013. I weighed in at my TOPS meeting on January 2nd. That was the beginning of a weight loss journey like I had never experienced before. I lost weight for twenty weeks straight, for a total loss of 38 pounds in that period!! Wow!!! Add to that the big ole four and one half pounds that I had lost and kept off from 2012 and I was then down forty two and one half pounds.
What made the difference then, you may wonder. Well, I'll tell you. Along with eating healthier (you just cannot get away with not making that change), I started running. I mean running regularly, at least three times a week. I was training to do a 5K on April 20th and I so, so, so badly wanted to run the entire thing. I had run/walked a couple of 5Ks in 2012, but had fallen way short on the run part. But, not this time. When April 20th came and I crossed that finish line, I had not walked one step!!! Then, as a bonus to being able to RUN a 5K, the pounds were just melting off! I mean, it just doesn't get much better than this!
After the twenty weeks straight of losing weight, I lost another four pounds over a period of six weeks. Talk about a screeching halt! Yikes! Some of that was due to my body adjusting to such a big weight loss. But, and it's a BIG but...the most of it was to my slacking off, eating more than I should and had been, not running as much, etcetera. I had gotten complacent. I was only fifteen pounds away from my goal, and if I must say, looking pretty darn good! So, now we're at the end of July and what a transformation from July a year before!
Fast forward to the end of October. I did another 5K and I ran the entire thing! Now, get this....get this; for my birthday on October 29th, I ran 5.3 miles to match my 53rd birthday!!!! Two weeks later on November 16th...another 5K, and again, I ran the entire thing! As a matter of fact, that was my fastest one yet. Whoop whoop!! Oh, just to clarify, I haven't said I ran fast, just that I ran, and that I was getting faster. ;-)
Let's move along to 2 weeks later. December 1, 2013.......tragedy strikes. :-( :-( :-( As has been the case most of my life, I did not handle the tragedy without turning to food. Within five months I gained back all of the weight I had lost, and exercise has been almost non existent.
Now, here I am at the end of July 2014, professing yet again, that I will be Fat Neaux More!! I will lose the weight, and with the help of God, I will learn to get through this thing called life without self destructing.
See below pics from the last three Julys. Amazing how quickly things can change. Of course, when the change is losing weight, quick is a good thing!! :-)
July 2012
And, one more. This is a pic of me about to cross the finish line at the last 5K I ran. It's so hard to believe that was only eight months ago. I WILL be RUNNING another one soon!!
