I'm going to use this Mindful Monday post as kind of closing thought on my last 3 blog posts.(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 )
As I was lying in bed this morning I was reflecting on the Triathlon yesterday and I remembered the encouragement of every one just participating in the race. Many shapes, sizes , and even ages! Young kids lined the course and cheered us on. Older women in the race, said "Go get 'em girl" as I passed them. Everyone passing words of encouragement such as "Good job" back and forth.
Sometimes, it's hard to see someone go through a major transformation. At this point I have officially lost about 75 pounds, I was up to 80, so work with me here on the Math... 40 pounds took me over 6+ years on my own and 40 with a doctors supervision in less than a year. It worked out to about 12.5 pounds per year. (My sister the math genius calculated it.) I didn't tell everyone about my journey...guess it's out there now. However, a lot of people were becoming concerned. Everyone was telling me I was too skinny. That I needed to be done.
Initially I remember telling my husband how nervous I was about seeing people we hadn't seen in a long time because the focus would be on how I looked. I had never really been comfortable with myself from the beginning. And now that I had this new shape and look it was even more embarrassing when people commented "look at you. look at your size!"
Over the years no one ever really thought of me as..."fat" I carried all 200+ pounds pretty well I guess.
I think people just weren't used to seeing me, healthy. I mean, I got mad at people who lost weight too! I was especially jealous if they did fast! I've been there, I've been in those shoes being mad that I wasn't losing fast enough.
Telling myself things that were in fact, not very encouraging. Things like "oh well, they'll just gain it all back." But I had heard the stories. The people only eating 1 meal a day or only consuming 700 calories a day. I knew that was not the way to do it!! So it was frustrating. I wanted results but I didn't want to kill myself to get it done.
I've always been physically active I just now have a diet that works with my activity level. I did go through a phase where I was only eating 1,200 calories a day but it wasn't intentional, and it didn't last for long.
My activity level and training regime, I needed to be eating almost double of that. Eventually I found what works for me. Some days are better than others. Some days are worse than others...
She Is More Website is a great Christian website that has a post about how to feel beautiful. I think I have mentioned this site before, but it's worth mentioning again.
This woman...
Is Harriet Andersen. She is 74 years old, and has competed in Iron Man 18 times. In 2009 she got clipped from behind
on her bike, fell and broke her clavicle. She taped her arm to her
waist, walked the marathon portion and still finished in time. (Photo courtesy of Iron Man) What makes you think you are not worth this journey? Think of Harriet, think of the women I posted about in Curvy Fit.
All of these women have struggles and fears but they conquered them and went on to achieve great things.
What I'm trying to say is be fearless. The kind of Fearless where you look all of your anxieties and worries in the face despite your fear and conquer all.
Be You. Fight for what you want,
because people are going to think and say whatever they want about you
anyway.
What
drives you? What do you need to move those mountains in your life?
People will try to bring you down. But there will also be people you
need in your life that are building you up. People like, the sailors
wife, #1 running buddy (eventually she's going to want a cooler nickname),
the solider...my family. My hubby. Countless other friends that have
supported EACH. STEP.
Do this journey for you...I promise you, if I can do it. YOU can do it.
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