My journey to good health: A brief history

Some of you reading this probably don't know me or have never met me at least so I thought I would share a bit of me with the world.

I was always a thin child. My grandma used to call me a beanpole and always said that one day my appetite would catch up with me. Boy was she right! I graduated high school in 1995 and in March of 1996 I married my husband. In November 1996, my son was born. Before baby I was still fairly thin. A size 8 probably. After he was born I remember struggling to get back into a size 12 and was basically stuck at a 14. I even tried weight watchers and failed. So I resigned to being "fat". In 1999 I became pregnant with my daughter and after she was born I ballooned up to 225lbs. I felt terrible. I went on a diet and ate healthy and even started working out and got back down to 138lbs. I felt great, but I started having a pain in my left knee. A visit to an orthopedic surgeon rocked my world. He told me that I needed to stop running and that I wasn't doing myself any favors by continuing. There's nothing that can send a runners life into a tailspin faster than being told you can't run. I slipped into what I would call a deep depression and gained back every pound I had lost plus another 50 or so pounds. I tell people I got back what I lost and it brought friends and had a party! In 2011, I decided that the whole diet thing wasn't working for me and that I needed a real incentive to work for. I needed a push that had no work around, no loopholes. My husband shared with me that he was considering a gastric restrictive procedure and I thought he was crazy at first. So I did my own research and we made a decision together to do it. We began the process together and worked together to accomplish our goal of successful surgeries. The closer the time got, the more excited I got because I knew this would open up a whole new world of possibilities for me. I had my surgery on April 12, 2012. At my heaviest, in January 2012, I was 287lbs. The day of my surgery I was down to about 265lbs. It was my goal that when I hit 200lbs, I would start running again. My husband had his surgery about 3 weeks after I did. It hasn't been easy by any stretch. The surgery is simply a tool and is not "taking the easy way out" or "cheating" at all. People that think that clearly don't understand what it takes to be fit and that some people just need a little help along the way! We began exercising little by little in the months prior to our surgery date and started back up again within weeks after our surgeries. We set a goal that we were going to take a Disney Cruise during spring break of 2013 and we wanted to be at our goal weights by that time. We had been to FL a few years ago but due to our weight, were unable to enjoy many things that do not accommodate larger people. This would be our chance to "do it again" the right way.

In July 2012, I hit my goal of 200lbs, just 3 months after my surgery, and bought a pair of running shoes. I could barely run across the street! I was able to start at the indoor track at the YMCA and could run 1 lap, walk 1 lap and paced myself that way. I did this a couple of times a week and it got easier and easier. Within a few months I was able to run a whole mile without stopping! So, I signed up for my first 5k. I did The Color Run in October and ran almost the whole thing. I use the term running loosely because my sister was walking next to me! My second 5k followed in November. It was timed so I know it took me about 38 minutes! I was so proud of my accomplishment! I had been bitten by the race bug!

I hit my goal weight of 138lbs in March of this year and so far am holding steady. I think my body has found it's "happy place". That is, as long as I take care of myself and don't stop moving. I have run several 5k's since last October and even 2 10k's. as of right now, I am training for the IMT Des Moines Marathon half marathon. That's right, the girl who couldn't run across the street one short year ago is going to run 13.1 miles in October of this year! Thank you Terry Peterson for talking me into that. He also talked me into a sprint triathlon that I did in Feb 2013.