One Is Just A Number

As I type this, the downtown streets of my city are filled with more than 9,800 people participating in the 35th Annual Tulsa Run. The race has 2k, 5k, and 15k routes. Since achieving my weight loss goal, I've been considering another goal, running a 5k. I love the way people talk about running and the feeling they experience after a run. I often feel the urge to feel the wind on my face as I find my stride and work towards that "runner's high." Periodically, I'll check the Sunday ads for sales on running shoes and treadmills. I've thought about when I could fit running into my schedule, since I already exercise three days a week with my sister. I've read a book written by a new runner. (Run With Me: An Accidental Runner and the Power of Poo by Jennifer Luitwieler). I've done everything but lace up a pair of sneakers and hit the pavement. This is not unusual for me but if I wait 10 years to run that 5k like I did to lose weight, I'll b...

Research findings were announced recently that said people who attend meetings like Weight Watchers that are led by peer counselors were more successful at weight loss than people who met with a professional counselor. I know from my experience, learning from someone who succeeded at the program made my weight loss goal seem attainable. Also helpful was a group of people cheering me on every week when I was down some lbs and commiserating with me on the weeks when the scale went the other way. At the meetings we would talk about what worked and what didn't work for us and on the weeks when I was ready to give it up and plunge back into my old ways, there was a group of people talking me off that ledge and back on track to lose those 50 pounds. If you have a weight loss goal, find someone with a similar goal, whether that be through Weight Watchers or a coworker you run into in the office kitchen while you try to resist that box of donuts. Encourage each other, hold ...

There is 28% less of me than there was 21 months ago. I set a goal in January 2011 to lose 50 pounds by my 50th birthday and I reached my goal with a few weeks to spare. I was so fortunate that my company offered at-work Weight Watchers meetings because I don't know that I ever would have lost weight without them. I had been planning to lose weight for 10 years. For 10 years I talked about losing weight but when I turned that talk into action I would get frustrated and go back to the old habits that had packed on the pounds. Weight Watchers changed that. They taught me the right action to take to change those old habits and lose the pounds that had been weighing me down physically and emotionally. I hope my weight loss story will inspire others and I hope writing about that story will inspire me to keep those pounds off.