extremely slender and very athletic, I was blessed to have a nice figure
and loved all sports, and couldn't get enough of them. For the first 3
years of our marriage, we did everything together and I maintained my
sporty physique. Coming up on the 4th year,I was pregnant with my son. He
ended up being almost 10 pounds at birth, and I gained 45lbs with the
pregnancy. Life changed drastically for me at that point, and I found
having a newborn really put an end to my activities, as he was born in
February and it was too cold to take the baby out anywhere that winter.
Little by little more pounds came on. At first I thought I was imagining
it all, but as time went by I could see the weight coming on. I never did
get back to the gym, or to any exercise at all, and 5 years later along
came my daughter who again, was almost 10 lbs. By this time I was over 200
lbs and beginning to realize that I had let myself go.
I found it hard for so many years, to get motivated. The weight just came
on so easily and I was so busy with my job and children, that I didn't
give myself any time for ME. Two years ago I attempted to start running
again, as it was the one passion that I missed the most. In my mind, I was
still a slim, fit, runner in my 20's. My body however, was not in sync. I
ended up with a serious injury and had to have surgery on my right ankle,
which made matters worse as I couldn't exercise. Sure I could go to the
gym and try to do the machines, but at that point I just gave up. Totally
gave up. :(
Fast forward to last December, when I turned 50, and looked in the mirror
and saw a woman who was extremely obese and almost 300 lbs. Sure I'm tall,
and people say, "Oh you carry it well".. (NOT REALLY. At that point I now
had high blood pressure, thyroid issues and sleep apnea.) That was
December 28th. On Jan 1st I looked in the mirror and swore to myself that
I was not going to see that obese woman any more. At my job, we had a
weight watchers program starting up that week, at lunchtime. I signed up
and decided to make a go for it. I learned all about the program and how
to apply it for me. I still wanted to be a runner again, but I knew in my
heart that I had to lose at least 30lbs first, so that I wouldn't get
injured again.
Today it is July 20th and I am happy to say that I have lost 65lbs since
Jan 1st. I am now running 4-6 miles every other day and am totally in love
with the new me! I still look in the mirror and sometimes my mind says,
"look at that muffin top hanging over your pants"Š But then I say to
myself, this LITTLE muffin top is a whole lot smaller than it used to be!
I prefer to look at it as "I have lost half a person!" I still have
another half person to go, but I am enjoying every step of the way. When I
run, I take time to enjoy the sky, the flowers, the butterflies,
everything around me. It's like I've been reborn into a brand new body and
it feels amazing. I try to put a fair amount of effort into my blogging in
the hopes that it will inspire someone else to take the first step towards
a healthy, fit lifestyle. That¹s what its all about, isn't it? Loving life
and enjoying every minute of it!
Louise Cunningham
Bangor ME
Check out Louise's inspiring blog at http://www.runnersramblings.com.
Did you run your baby weight off?
Share your story with us by emailing it to sexymotherrunner@yahoo.com.
You could win one of the wonderful shirts
pictured above from My Happy Pace Gear!
~Danyelle & Bekah
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