Let's Get It Started (again)

I've been gone. At first I was kind of mad, because I felt like I was doing everything I could, but I wasn't losing weight. I would lose a pound or two, then gain a pound or two and lose and gain and I felt stuck and feeling stuck made me frustrated and sad.

In May I went to my doctor. I was convinced that I had a thyroid problem because I was doing the same thing I had done in 2011 (tracking my food, training for a half marathon) but I wasn't having the same results. The only difference, as far as I could tell, was that in 2010 and 2011 I was taking a thyroid medication. My doctor at that time told me that my test results had come back normal but she was treating my symptoms.

So I laid it all out to my doctor; I'm working so hard, I'm not losing weight, I'm frustrated. He said he understood and told me that he had been feeling the same way. He too is a runner and he realized that over the past few years he had put on some weight. How do you put on weight when you are running regularly! This is a man who runs several marathons a year. He said "Kate, we think we deserve those carbs, but we really don't." And the proof is that when you take in more than you need, it get's stored as fat. So he told me what he had been doing that has worked. Which was eat less. I protested- BUT I'VE BEEN DOING THAT. And he asked me to keep doing it. He also gave me an appetite suppressant to use for a month. When he was talking to me about medications I told him about the thyroid medication I was on and he said "Yes, that one does have weight loss as a side effect"

I was kind of crushed. Because I felt like I had done lots of good work in 2011, I had worked hard and I had seen results. For a day or two I was sad, thinking that it wasn't really me at all, it was just a happy side effect of a medication that I may not have even needed to be taking. Then a friend told me that I shouldn't feel that way, that I needed to remember that I had worked hard, I had focused and I had done my best and I had (and still do) inspired her.

That was the middle of May. I was 182 pounds according to my scale. I did exactly what the doctor told me to do. I ate 3 small meals and 3 snacks. The caloric break down through the day was 300, 100, 300, 100, 400, 100. That month I lost 13 pounds. 169! I saw the doctor, he was amazed at how well I had done, I was amazed at how well I had done. We talked about what my weight goal should be, 145. We set the goal to lose 6 pounds per month until I met that goal.

A month later I was at 163, and now it's been another month and this morning I weighed in at 158.2 It always amazes me when I get into the 150's. in 2011 I never made it into the 140's so to have my final goal be 145 is kind of odd to me. I know I can do it, I just don't know what it will feel like. I have no memories at all of a time that I ever had a 4 in the middle of my weight.

So there you have it. Since my last weigh in on the blog I have gained and lost and gained and lost the same pound or two, and as of today I am down 23.2 pounds which, if I do say so myself, is FREAKING AWESOME! You know what's also awesome. I feel strong. I think I look strong too. Since May I've gone from 30% body fat to 26 %. Since June I've gone from a 34 inch waist to a 31 inch waist. And in a week and a half I'm going to run my second 1/2 Marathon of the year. I've dealt with weird pains and strains but I've kept going (don't worry, I talked to the doctor and he told me to keep going). I've discovered that I'm willing to wake up at 5 AM and run in the dark. I'm working had AND I really feel like it's paying off. I'm feeling good, I'm feeling blessed.

I haven't decided if I will be having weekly weigh in's or monthly ones, but I promise will be updating this blog more frequently. So stay tuned!