I realized that I was fat on Mother's Day 2009. My baby had just turned 1, and my oldest son had just turned 10. Why was I still hanging onto the "baby weight"? Facing the truth was really hard. It wasn't baby fat. I hadn't even gained any weight in my last 2 pregnancies. I was just fat, at 215lbs on a 5'2 frame I was morbidly obese. I was wearing a size 20, always with spandex in it, from specialty stores that carried clothes for bigger ladies. I could no longer shop just anywhere and I was tired all the time. I was also a 2-time insulin dependent gestational diabetic and my A1C level was still very high one year postpartum. I was borderline Type II diabetic, definately Insulin Resistant. My cholesterol was high and I suffered from severe reflux. I had to do something if I planned to hang around long enough to watch my four children grow up.
For Mother's Day, that year, I gave myself a gift. I told myself that for the first time in a decade I could focus some time on me.
Not quite sure where to start I took the first step by beginning to walk three nights a week for about 30 minutes. It wasn't impressive, but it was something. I started to feel a little bit better about myself and my clothes were loser after the first month. One of my friends, a local semi-competitive runner offered a challenge to me - walk a half marathon, 13.1 miles. There was a race coming up in September and she showed me a training plan that could help me achieve this little challenge goal. I made the comittment and followed the plan. I finished my race in 3hours, 28 minutes. I'm not sure what I weighed then, I was still really fat, I still wore a size 18, but I really felt better about myself. I felt so good that in a few weeks I decided I should start running and I set a goal to run an entire 5k, which I did 2 months later. I got serious about running and over the next 12 months I ran several races, including 2 more half marathons. I was reaching fitness goals, but I really hadn't dropped as much weight as one might think. I was still very overweight. I didn't want to be the fat chick running races that everyone noticed. I just wanted to be normal.
The day after Christmas 2010 my husband decided to start the Atkins plan. The next day, I was on board as well. Here we were, a couple days before New Year's Eve starting what I thought would be a quick diet plan, and I was somewhat skeptical. I went to the library, read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution cover to cover over the next 2 days. It made sense to me, and we were firmly in Induction. I weighed 176 the day I started Atkins Induction.
Initially, the Induction diet was tough for me. I lacked the energy level during my workouts, I felt like I was running on dead legs, but I pressed on. I stayed the course. I didn't drop massive amounts of weight during the first 2 weeks, but I did lose. I moved on to Ongoing Weight Loss and climbed the carb ladder. My energy returned. I picked up my training and finished 2 more half marathons in April 2011.
I dropped my finish time by almost 20 minutes from October to April. By following the Atkins plan, as written, I was able to find things that worked for me, and things that didn't work well for me. Some months have been slow in the loss department, other months not so slow. My body shape has changed tremendously. I am now in Pre-Maintenance. I'm good at following directions, I'm so glad I took the time to read the book. I never feel hungry, I cook most of our food at home, but I do occasionally eat out. It's never a big deal either way, I know how I need to eat in order to stay healthy. My relationship with food has changed a lot.
I wasn't going to call success for a few more pounds, but I've met my goals. I'm not diabetic. I'm not pre-diabetic. I don't have high cholesterol anymore. I have more energy than I recall having ever had - a good thing now that my kids are all going places!
I'm turning 35 in a few days. I am in the best physical condition I've been in since I left the Army when I was 22 years old. I am training for 2 October half marathons and I coach a football cheer squad. I am 138 lbs. I wear a non-stretchy size 10 jeans and a size Medium top. I feel great...and I'm not the fat chick running races anymore.
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This is my 3 month update. I'm down to 135 now. I did those two October half marathons with a personal best time of 2:18!
No longer the fat chick running races.
