Making the impossible possible!

During this journey I have experienced so many things that I never thought possible.  Possible for others, certainly, but not for me.

I've wanted to lose weight for a LOOOONNNGGG time.  But I wanted to lose by some miracle potion, not by doing the work to lose it.  When I used to talk about "some day" getting motivated enough to actually do something about it, I would say that there were things I was willing to give up, but that I would NEVER give up Mountain Dew.  That was going to be my one vice that I would still indulge in.  

My last sip of that necter of the evil gods was May of 2010.

I joined the 3fatchicks weight loss site in November of 2010.  At the time I had lost 61 pounds, placing me at 283 pounds.  When you are setting up your profile it asks you your highest known weight, your current weight and your goal weight.  I can remember sitting at the computer staring.  I had no goal weight.  I truly hadn't thought about it.  I finally decided to enter 150.  It was a totally random number and I almost felt guilty entering those numbers because, even having lost some weight, the thought of getting under 200 - well, remember, I weighed over 200 my senior year of high school - I knew that it was impossible.  So I felt like a fraud entering 150 knowing that it wasn't going to happen.

I hit 199 pounds June of 2011.  And then January 2012, I hit 149.  

Did you guys know that I have a heart murmur?  Pulmonary stenosis.  It's a mild case and I used to have it checked every couple years as a kid, but was given the all clear by my 18th birthday.  And although I was never told that I needed to restrict my activity, I always used it as the excuse why I couldn't exercise.  It would be IMPOSSIBLE for me to do heavy cardio.

So when I started running - on the treadmill at 289 pounds - and thought that I would DIE after 2 minutes, I told myself that I just was not made for running.  And I ran anyway.  Then I ran a mile.  Then I ran 3.

But I got stuck there.  I just couldn't run more then 3 miles.  I just would shut down.  Ok, so 3 was my limit, right?  It was impossible for me to run more.  Then my friend Sal, the marathon runner, told me that he would make me run more.  So he ran with me and when we got to 3 and I wanted to quit, he wouldn't let me and we ran 3.5.  A small but significant increase.

But I was never going to be a "real runner".  And double digits?  Forget that!  Until one day I decided to try to run 10 miles and I did.  

But I was a slow runner, and knew that I would never speed up.  My first mile outside took me 16 minutes to run, after all.  And then last month I ran a 10K in under 48 minutes and WON FIRST PLACE in a field of over 70.  

And how about food?  I've always been a picky eater and I've never did anything more then basic - VERY BASIC - cooking.  So there was no way I was going to experiment with new food and recipes in my late 30's, right?  

So how the heck is it me learning about healthy foods, trying new foods - some of which I had never ever HEARD of let alone eaten - and liking them to boot.  Who is this person planting a full garden and trying healthy recipes all the time??

Oh, that would be ME!

So STOP thinking things are impossible.  Change is right there - just beyond your reach!  Keep striving and working and BELIEVING in yourself.  You will change "I can't do this" into "Holy shit!  Look what I did!"