I love those overnight success stories where people go from living in their car to being a millionaire in less than a year. Or where someone loses 200 pounds and runs a marathon…in less than a year. And while I love those stories, I’ve decided I’m going to be the world’s slowest success story. And that’s OK…because that means I didn’t give up.
In 2012, I met a guy who had just finished an IRONMAN triathlon. He was super cool and super inspiring. And it made me want to do an IRONMAN. And since he was also a personal trainer, I asked if he thought I could ever get in good enough shape to do an IRONMAN and without hesitation, he said, “Of course.”
And so I did what any overweight sedentary blogger would do, I went home and bought the domain name ObeseToIronman.com. I wrote a lengthy post about my goal to lose 100 pounds and complete an IRONMAN triathlon before I turned 40. And then I completed about 4 weeks of Couch 2 5k before my autoimmune condition flared up and my thoughts of becoming a triathlete and losing weight slipped from the top of my mind.
Over the next few years, I would continue to work at losing weight…and attempt to take up running many more times. I even went through a period of consistent spin classes at the gym and lost about 30 pounds, but life would get busy, my autoimmune disease would flare up, or I’d get lazy…and the pounds would pile back on and I’d go back to sitting on the couch.
In 2017, our family made a life-changing move. We moved from Indiana to Arizona. I had gotten to the point where I was so miserable during the Indiana winters that I could barely walk, so we packed up our lives and moved to Arizona.
When we got to Arizona, I vowed things would be different. I talked to another friend who was an IRONMAN coach and she told me that I was totally capable of completing an IRONMAN, so I started training again…and my autoimmune disease flared up AGAIN!
At that point I decided maybe I just needed to lose some weight before doing anything drastic. In December 2017, I decided to start hiking. I’d always loved to hike, but was so out of shape that I couldn’t even make it up a beginner trail. I literally felt like I was going to die…and I didn’t even go all the way to the top.
But I was committed…and I kept at it. I made it a little further each time and in January, I made it to the top of that beginner trail…in 65 minutes.
That month, I also decided to start drinking green smoothies and eating smaller portions. And while that helped temporarily, I quickly realized I needed to figure out how to lose weight and keep it off for a lifetime.
I did lots of research…
And I lost some weight…
And I kept hiking and eating better…and I lost some more weight.
And after about 18 months, I had lost a significant amount of weight…and was exercising regularly. I could even run a mile.
And then we moved across the country to Florida…and there were no mountains to hike. And I gained a few pounds.
And then there was a pandemic…and I gained a few more pounds.
And then I got the dreaded virus…and ended up in the hospital…and then I gained even more weight.
Which brings us to now… I’m down about 90 pounds…I was down over 100 pounds.
While I’m not at my heaviest…I’m not at my thinnest either. And while I’m not ready to go out and do major running, I’ve been consistently riding my Peloton for the last 2 months…and I’ve been doing some walking as well with my sweet little puppy.
And so we just keep moving forward!