Lots To Celebrate!

Last night I posted a teaser promising to report on some new non-scale victories and I don’t want to keep anyone in suspense any longer. The first huge thing is that my mother-in-law commented on my weight loss! I love and respect my in-laws so much and not having them say anything was beginning to get a little disconcerting. I basically had solidified in my own mind that they were not remarking on the loss because they didn’t feel that it was appropriate to say anything, but last night she finally did! It was so nice to have that recognition!

Also, we were over at their place having a wonderful supper, and afterwards my mother-in-law asked me to set out a bunch of her Christmas baking for dessert (along with the sherbet or ice cream they normally serve us). She is a great baker and in the past I would have taken that request as permission to pile the platter high with every kind of the dozen or so treats she had available. This time I only put out a few pieces from about half of the options, noting ahead of time which two I wanted to sample. I stuck with it too! Last year I would have tried at least one of every single kind of bar, cookie, and square, but this was different. I am different!

After dinner I went to the mall to see what my options were for buying jeans at one of the big department stores. I looked for 16W’s, which they did not have, but went into the change room with 18’s and 16’s. I wasn’t exactly feeling overly hopeful about the 16’s as the 18’s I already own are still doing pretty well, but I figured trying them on would help me determine how much further I had to go until I fit them. Apparently not far at all, because the pants fit perfectly! I tried on three different pairs and zipped them all up with no problem, although one pair was a little bit tighter. I am a size 16!!! I ended up buying a pair of Levi’s; I never thought I would get into a name brand like that again! This was a huge deal!!! Plus, the added bonus is that my behind looks mighty fine in them… grin!

While I was there I also saw a beautiful sweater that I decided to try on. I opted to attempt to fit into a large, but it didn’t quite work… it was too big!!! I tried on a medium and it looked great! My husband made me try on a small, just to see how it fit and it actually did not look too bad, but I opted for the medium which I know was the right choice. I can not believe I now own a medium anything! Sometimes this can all be a bit overwhelming, but I am still loving it!

Finally, I got inspired when reading Sarah’s and Laura’s blogs last night. Both of these great women just broke through a personal barrier by jogging for an extended length of time, so I decided that it might be fun to try and join their ranks. I headed to the track with my husband – who came to walk and keep me company, not jog – and got going right away.

It is worth noting that since starting this journey I have never even jogged one time around this entire track, let alone attempted to circle it multiple times. I knew I was being ambitious, but I was also totally fine with not making it far. I figured the experience was more about putting forth the effort than about meeting a goal I came up with an hour before undertaking the task.

Anyhow, I started out going pretty slowly – I was definitely jogging, but I thought it would be best to do so at a lower speed to ensure that I was able to maintain my pace for longer. I did indeed make it around the entire track without feeling too tired, which was a huge accomplishment for me in and of itself, but I also knew that I was not even close to meeting my goal of twenty minutes of continuous jogging at that point. I kept going and as I passed my husband just after the second lap I tossed my oversized hoodie at him as I was getting too hot. (It actually amuses me to call that particular piece of clothing oversized since it is my husband’s and it used to barely stretch over my entire frame.) As I started on my fourth circle, I lapped him again and threw my fleece jacket at him too – apparently my heater works overtime in those types of conditions. Half way through lap five, probably at about the thirteen or fourteen minute mark, I knew I was going to reach my goal!

Then I suddenly realized that way back in highschool I used to jog around the same track for gym class once in a while during the ‘six-lap run’. I think I only completed the trek actually running a couple of times since I was usually too lazy or attitudinal and I normally just walked it. I have no idea how quickly I was able to do it in my teens when I actually tried, but to finish that sixth lap in eighteen minutes felt great to me yesterday. Sometimes a little nostalgia can be a good thing.

As I closed in on the end of the twenty minutes I suddenly realized that I was pretty confident I could squeeze out another lap to get close to the twenty-five minutes mark, so I blew past the starting line and kept on going. Then, as I was about to finish lap eight, I knew I could do one last one so I really pushed it. I was about to start slowing down as I closed in on twenty-seven minutes when I suddenly started yelling at myself inside my head that I could get to thirty minutes. Then I started envisioning all of the wonderful people in this blogging community standing at the end of the track, shouting encouragement. I practically shoved my poor, exhausted body past the line to begin one final lap and I forced out that last few moments needed to complete my circuit. I jogged ten laps, non-stop, in thirty minutes!!!

This was obviously a momentous NSV for me! I am so thankful that I have gotten my body to a point where it is able to pull out its reserves to get something like this done. I am still in a state of partial disbelief over the whole thing. The bonus, of course, is that my heel is doing great. I knew on Sunday that it was probably mostly healed, but gave it the extra day to ensure I wouldn’t have any setbacks. I am glad I did that, considering how hard I pushed myself last night.

Anyways, it was an amazing day yesterday and I am looking forward to continuing to add to my ever-growing pile of non-scale victories. I think it is so important to celebrate the little bits and pieces that are improved upon as this journey unfolds. I am feeling great and I can’t wait to get out there and conquer whatever is next!