Monday, October 31, 2011

A Milestone Hit!

Welcome to the 200's to me!  This may make skinny girls recoil in horror (to which I flick your feather like body off into the stratosphere) but to a girl who was tipping dangerously close to the 500 lb. mark, this is a big deal.  I haven't seen the 2's since 1999.  At that time I lost 85 lbs. and was feeling pretty friggin' awesome.  But due to the fast weight loss (it was just melting off then, no fads), my gall bladder gave me issues and it took 6 months of pain, dizziness and horror to finally get diagnosed that it was shutting down.  That was the beginning of the end and then add coping with family illnesses, deaths and work stress with food got me to where I was at my worst.

When I hit the 300's, I said when I hit the 200's I wanted to hike this hill that is in a town that was a fun part of my childhood.  It's about 250 feet with a 45 degree slope in many spots and for about a decade there was just no way I could fathom doing it.  I could barely do the stairs or inclines at our local park.  But I longed to lookout over the town and declare my victory over this seemingly impossible hike.  As if by fate, I had booked an out of town trip to this area for this past weekend.

Friday before we left...I hit the 2's.

Saturday, I hit the top...


It was an amazing feeling!  Not only did I make it without really stopping (except to take a pic of a deer) but I felt like a normal person, a fit person.  There was a bit of a lung burn toward the end but I think it was because we actually did a WAY worse hike by accident earlier in the day that made this look like chump change.  I wore my heart rate monitor and over the course of those hikes, I burned 2200 calories that day. There is just no way I could've done that even a year ago.  I think about when we went to Memphis last April and my feet had really bad blisters all over them and I could barely walk without a hobble because of them the next day.  We walked a similar amount Saturday (though much more strenuous due to the amount of inclines and stairs) and I just had a small amount of soreness and no huge blisters on the bottom of my feet.  That's a 70 lb. difference between now and then and I'm so thankful for it.  I remember how frustrating it was then to feel like I'd lost so much but my weight was still holding me back.  This time, I felt like I wasn't held back at all.  There were quite a few groups of people with overweight and obese people that had to stop for a bit to catch their breath but I was glad to see they were still out there living despite it.  So many of us don't.  I so remember that feeling but was glad that we could go at a pace we were now comfortable with and that pace was comparable to what most consider a "fit"pace.  I told myself I would stop if I needed to but I could count maybe two full minutes added up even after going up flights and flights of stairs in a row.  Heck, even young boy scouts were sucking more wind than we were.  There's something to be said about awesome cardio!  So it was a great weekend of celebrating this new chapter on my path.

I need to think of how I want to celebrate getting into the 1's.  (I will NOT call it "one-derland" because I don't enjoy barfing from cheesy sayings)  I hope it doesn't take as long as that 100 lbs. did but I'm going to do it up right y'all!

Do you celebrate milestones?  Any suggestions for the next 100 lb. milestone?

====================
Like this post? Never miss another one...subscribe by email or RSS feed at the upper left of the page!

21 comments:

  1. Woohoo!

    This makes me so happy! Also, I'm so glad you won't call it 'one-derland', whoever came up with that should be shot.

    Have a great day, Mrs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Seriously, this brings the biggest happy tears to my eyes, and I don't even know you other than your blogs here. Huge congratulations to you! Beyond amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations! What a great milestone.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm SO happy for you! Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  5. WOO HOO!! WAHOOEY!! YEAH!! Okay, next challenge could be walking up the Hancock building in Chicago. Many do this event for charity but you and yours could do this for YOU. Combine this with a mini getaway too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to go, girl! I'm sure you haven't quit with the happy dance yet. That is so awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Woo! What an accomplishment. Congrats!
    Fizzyball

    Note: you have mentioned your heart rate monitor a few times in past blogs and was wondering if u had a recommendation for one? I could like to get one that does not require a chest strap, not too bulky (to pass as a regular watch) and budget freely.

    ReplyDelete
  8. you know what...you seriously friggin ROCK beyond belief! Love the Rocky stance...you deserve it and so much more girl! Can't wait to see you rock out the 200's!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Regarding suggestions for the reward for the next 100 pds I could suggest since I believe you enjoy traveling and adventure:
    Traveling to Europe and walking up the Eiffel tower (no elevator).

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh this is WONDERFUL news! Congratulations!

    Not to be selfish or anything, but I think a wonderful next milestone celebration would be returning to Memphis, where you might meet up with a local blogger (one guess who that would be) for a long walk along the river, the Greenline, the zoo, or all three. Even better would be celebrating this milestone that way. :)

    Again, heartfelt congratulations on your awesome efforts and results!

    ReplyDelete
  11. YOU ROCK!!!!
    That is such amazing news!! I am just in awe and so happy for you!

    I'd like to suggest coming to Norway and hiking in our wonderful mountains as a reward! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks so much for the wonderful comments! I like the travel ideas for celebrating the 100's.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Awesome job!!! I never had a doubt.
    I suggest travel as well. BIG TIME TRIP though ;)
    Way to go, girl!!!
    Melly

    ReplyDelete
  14. Congratulations!!!! What a wonderful way to celebrate!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. YAYAYAYAY!!!!! Doing a happy happy dance with you! You deserve to celebrate so much and I know you will come up with an amazing way to celebrate when you make it into the 100's. Do the hundy dance :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hurray for you!!! (And hurray for me, I have reached the 1s- does that make me featherlike?? :)Woohoo!) I love your reward for hitting the 200s. A fitness goal. That just goes to show that you will succeed and that you completely have the right mindset. I still fight myself all the time with rewards. My idea of a reward is food. Such a no-no. If I hit my goal, I am buyinmg myself a new outfit- from head to toe. I have not done that in about 15 years. :) Best of everything to you! From that picture at the top I would not guess you hit 200s, but 100s :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I have a huge smile on my face as I read this! Congratulations on such a phenomenal victory!!! You're in such a better place with this journey than at any other time in the past, and there is no doubting that this is a permanent way of living now. You learned from the past and used all those rough and tumble times to treat yourself differently and to require more of yourself, including not emotionally abusing yourself. You are the living embodiment of what it means when they talk about lifestyle. It may be an overused term, but for me the key part of that is "life". You are living fiercely every day. Wahoo!! I couldn't be more happy for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. *HAPPYDANCE* I am SO proud of you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'm sitting at my desk reading this and seriously I teared up. God is good and hard work yeilds results. Blessings on this new season in your life!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment! I appreciate your time! (Heads up though...disrespectful or spam comments will be deleted.)