Finding my Strength

For some reason, I have been procrastinating in writing a blog post for one of my biggest goals during my time of #funemployment.  I think because it's the one that I'm most excited about but the one that I know is the most time consuming and daunting.  My biggest goal for this time off is to get my health back on the front burner where it belongs.

For a number of years I was working hard through diet and exercise to lose a lot weight and to feel healthy.  In the May of 2014 I was at the lowest weight of my adult life and I was preparing to run my first half marathon.  I was the strongest I had ever been and I felt great about where I was.  I had finally reached a point where I looked in the mirror and I liked what I saw.  I was able to say, "if I don't lose another pound, I'm okay with that.  I like who I am.  I like how I look.  I'm the best Maia I can be."

As I sit here in my new apartment in Orlando two years later, I'm in a much different place.  I'm twenty pounds heavier.  I'm not anywhere near as strong as I was.  I'm not as happy about where my health is as I once was.  There are a lot of factors that go into my sliding backwards that I won't go into in this post as I've touched base on those factors before.   Why I fell is in the past and I need to look to the future.

I have two goals for this time off as far as my health is concerned:  1 - I want to lose these 20 pounds and get back down to my lowest weight, and 2 - I want to be strong again.

One of these goals is quantifiable.  I can easily step on a scale and see what it says back to me.  The other goal is a little harder to define.  How do I decide when I've attained that goal?  How do I know when I'm "strong"?

Technically, I've already attained my goal.  I'm strong and I know it.  I left a good job to voluntarily become unemployed because I needed to make a choice for my happiness.  Only a strong person can take this leap of faith.  Some might call me dumb, but I think it makes me strong to choose my happiness over my career.  And it's this inner strength that will help me find my outer strength.

So in order to help me stay on track and find my outer strength, I've set a goal for myself and it's a lofty one...  I've signed up for the Disney Wine & Dine Lumiere challenge in November.  This is a bigger goal than just running a half marathon.  I've done that before and I know I can do it again.  This is a goal to run a 10K and the very next day run a half marathon.  In a span of 48 hours, I will run a total of 19.3 miles.  Still not the length of a full marathon (I don't know if I ever really want to do a full...) but it's still a pretty darn tough challenge.  And to add an additional challenge on top of that, in order to run I am raising money for Save The Children, a charity that gives children across the globe the chance to learn and live healthy and happy lives.  My goal is to raise $1500, of which I've already raised $1000.  I'm pretty proud that I'm already 2/3 to my goal and that's because I have such wonderful and generous friends.  (In case you would like to donate, my fundraising page is here. )

Since the races aren't until November, that means that I don't have to start officially training until July, for which I am grateful.  It means I have a couple of months in which I can build up my stamina to the point to where I will feel ready to begin the long process to achieve my goal.

One thing that scares me is the burnout factor and that is something that I am going to work hard to avoid as I train for these races.  When I ran my half marathon in Edinburgh back in 2014, I didn't really run much in the months following because I burned myself out during the training process.  All I did was run and I didn't want to anymore.  This time around I'm going to be doing lots of different things that will help me achieve my goals.  I'm going to be biking, swimming, yoga, exercise videos like Jillian Michaels and yes, of course, I will be running.  Since my goal is to be strong, I can't neglect the strength training this time around.  I need to stop being afraid of the weight machines.  I need to learn to love them as well!

Something else that I'm going to reinstate in order to keep me on track for my weight loss goal is to start Weigh In Wednesdays again.  So, here are my official numbers:

Heaviest Weight (8/28/10):                   310.0
Current Weight:                                     241.7

Total Weight Lost:                                   68.3

That's where I'm at.  I have 21.7 pounds to lose to hit my goal of 220, but I have nothing but time and determination.  Two of the essential ingredients to successful weight loss!

So this is the goal that I will be devoting the majority of my time to over the course of the next few months.  You will be hearing me talk about my adventures at the gym, with my eating, with my new dietbet (yup, I joined another one - more on that in another post), and with some other possible new adventures I'm still mulling over.  I hope you won't get sick of it and of me as I find my path back to my strongest self.