Community

Sometimes your best friends/supports can be people you have never met. A couple of years ago I joined an online challenge.  It was something like 12 weeks and each week had a different theme.  All themes were about self improvement and fitness.  Early on we were encouraged to connect with someone else from the challenge and partner up.  Something of an accountability partner.  I waited until someone posted that they were in need of a partner and jumped on it.  Turned out that the person I partnered and I had a lot in common aside from just wanting to get fit.  We both had about 100lbs to lose, we both had two little ones and worked in the social services field and we both love to try new things.  When the challenge ended we managed to keep in touch.  We still talk to this day and have somewhat reconnected over the last few weeks.  See she has decided to take her journey to the next level and has set a goal to loss her 100lbs by July 30 2016, which happens to be her birthday.  You can read all about her and follow her journey at "The Jiggle Journals".  There you'll find posts from Megan(my friend), her sister and her cousin who are all working together for this.  When she told me her plans and what she was going to do I was so proud of her.  It's no secret we both struggle to keep going on this crazy ride but she has definitely been a big support of mine.

This got my mind working.  I've never been one to set a timeline on my weightloss.  The number on the scale has always taunted me but I also know it's not the only thing to work for.  I want to be fit which is such a vague word when you think about it.  The media would have us believe that "fit" is a number whether that be BMI, a specific weight or a clothing size.  More and more though you are hearing about people who aren't the media ideal size but still healthy and fit. This doesn't mean I don't want to be a healthier weight.  I know that long term carrying this extra weight isn't going to be good for my back, my knees, my ankle or my heart.  I know it makes all of these things work harder.  I also know that my near perfect labwork won't always be that way if I don't take care of myself.

That being said I have looked at my current weight and my personal goal weight which according to the charts will still be overweight but I really don't care.  So my ultimate goal is to be a strong, lean 150lbs.  That doesn't mean I will necessarily stop there.  I may stop sooner.  I may keep going.  I believe the charts say I should be between 120ish and 140ish.  I can't ever imagine being at the lower end.  I would have no muscle and I that would suck.  I want to be strong, I want muscle.  To get to my goal I need to drop another 62lbs.  I can do that in the same time line as my friend is going to lose her 100lbs.  Really it works out to just over one pound a week which is nice and slow.  I have promised her that as her birthday present.  If it happens sooner great, if not that's okay too.  I've lost 50lbs so far in my journey but it's taken me almost 5 years to do it.  That's not a bad thing but I just haven't been as dedicated as I could be.

Summer is always a crappy exercise time for me which doesn't make any sense.  I don't have to worry about getting the girls ready for school, the weather has been generally great this summer and I have had lots of time.  Sadly I also like to sleep in and since I wasn't training for a race my running slacked off.  I still ran and July wasn't a terrible month for workouts but I let my distance slide and my runs have been sporadic.  The great thing is I haven't quit running like I so often have done after a race.  I have no doubt that I'll be in great form for training for my fall half, which is going to happen this year.  The date for the one I want to do falls after my daughters birthday so it won't interfere with her celebrations.

So here is to more consistent posts(I have a computer again), more consistent food tracking(I only cheat myself by leaving things out) and renewed weekly weight tracking.   It's going to be great!!