Lurker out of hiding

[mom2angels]

From some other posts, it seems today may be the day for a lot of us to show our faces (well, kinda).

Hello all!  I used to be on TK, but was directed over here some time ago.  I'm not a regular by any means (I don't have time!), but a couple times a week I find myself looking at all the wonderful topics .  

I am married, have two beautiful little girls, ages 1 and 4, and I am a full time paralegal.  I also go to school full time, online classes.  I'm going for my bachelors, and will be done by next summer (hopefully - crossing my fingers).  I know, I know, I have too much shit going on to even worry about anything else.  Truth is, I have a really great boss, and when I'm not swamped with with 70+ cases, he wants me to do my schoolwork at work - which makes it very nice for me.  I get almost all of my schoolwork completed at work, but I occasionally do some work on the weekends, mostly right before or during finals week.  

I am 5'4", and I currently weight 139.  I do not see myself as "big", but I would like to lose about 15-20 pounds.  My real goal is to look good in a swimsuit, which I know may be more pounds to lose than that.  Right after Christmas, I made a "gym" in my garage.  I started doing Insanity, and completed the first month through the end of January.  Although I gained 2 pounds (still not sure how that happened), I lost 17 inches, including 5 in my stomach alone.  I don't know what it was inside my head, but something told me to get up every morning and do it.  At 5:15 every morning, I was up and doing it.  When the alarm went off, there wasn't a hesitation whatsoever to get my ass out of bed and go work out.  And I felt so good about myself!  My clothes were fitting differently and I felt "different".  I was also eating really well and tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal.  My goal was to lose 25 pounds by my youngest daughters 2nd birthday, which is mid-June.  Throughout working out, I celebrated every day that I had started when I did.  Because although I had so much more to lose and so much more work to do, I still had a lot of time to do it.

At the end of January, our day care provider (my kids went to an in home day care that was ran by a family friend) made a really bad choice and lost her license to care for kids.  I quickly realized how spoiled I was to have the peace of mind of dropping them off everyday, and now needed to do something very, very different.  I'm still not sure why it got to me so bad, but it turned my world upside down.  They are now at a center that we LOVE, although we pay waaaaay more than we were before. 

Shortly after, my husbands grandpa had a stroke, so we went to California (we are in WA) to see him and the family, and he ended up passing away.  This was the first family member EVER that my husband had lost, and he took it pretty bad.  He still has trouble with it, although he is getting better every day.

And now, almost May, I cant get back into MY swing of things.  I am trying so hard to find that drive that I had in January.  I am so sick of talking about it, and I know I just need to DO IT, but for some reason I can't!

My husband, not a fitness junkie at all, and I were looking at The Inferno Race (13.1 miles with 20 obstacles, with a 1/4 mile swim at the end), which is August 31st.  I thought maybe if I train for that it would give me something else to look forward to.  I have never EVER ran a race before, but have wanted to for a while now.  Right now I can run 2.5 miles without stopping, and probably more if I had a reason to.  Am I crazy?!?  

Any words of wisdom is greatly appreciated!  Thanks for listening.
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[gt7301b]

I think that setting the Inferno Race as a goal is a great idea, but I worry that you might be taking too much on and will get injured. Try signing up for a 5K or 10K and see how that goes, if it goes well the Inferno Race might be a good goal for this year. If not, build up some endurance and so it next year.

Also - don't worry about the numbers on the scale. Strength training (and half marathon training, I might add) doesn't always lead to weight loss. Dropping a total of 17 inches is a big win even if the number on the scale doesn't show the numbers you want it to. It seems to me like you are putting A LOT of pressure on yourself. I am about height and there is no way I will ever weigh 114 pounds again, it just isn't going to happen.

Good luck!!

[mom2angels]

I really like your idea about setting up a 10k.  I will look for one to register for in late June, early July.  I try not to pay attention to the numbers on the scale, and honestly havent looked in a few weeks.  I will vow not to weigh myself for a while!  Thanks for your words.

[shorty20]

Welcome! 17 inches is huge, congrats! The scale sucks, don't pay any attention to it, haha! I know, easier said than done.

I agree w/ the pp, try a shorter distance race first. Yes, you can probably *technically* do the Inferno, but going from 2.5 miles to 13 in that short amount of time probably isn't the smartest idea. 13 miles is no joke!

Good luck!

[mainewifey]

Congrats on 17 inches!

I think that having a goal, like a race is a great way to stay motivated. I lost my motivation over the past couple of years and joined a fitness group/challenge at my local gym in January. Having a group of people counting on me to show up and work hard has helped a lot.

I also registered for a Sprint Triathlon relay for this summer for the same reason. I don't want to let my team down.