23 by Twenty-Four Update

Breaking the Barrier: 230...

October 9, 2011 --

     For weeks I had felt trapped;  wanting to continue to lose weight, but the pounds simply not coming off.  I was stuck.  At the beginning of September, I was down to 231pounds, and for the past four weeks I was stuck there...cycling between weigh-ins at 231and 233, but never hitting or breaking the 230 pound mark.  I was beginning to get frustrated, and thought I would never be able to break that 230 milestone.  I decided to stop weighing  myself for awhile, and to really try to watch what I put into my body for two weeks, and see if that would help.  

     So for two weeks, I watched what I ate, stayed on my workout and training plans, and didn't obsess about my weight.  I have a half marathon one week from today, which has kept me focused and on track with my training, and I made sure to not have sodas, desserts, or sweets while controlling my portion sizes all week.  I had a few long runs of more than 6 miles in these past two weeks, as well as a bunch of shorter runs of 5 miles or less.  After all of that, the day to weigh myself finally came.  Tuesday morning I weighed myself and was blown away by the number I saw...226.5!  I could not believe it, so much so that I weighed myself 4 more times just to make sure.  Sure enough, each time that scale read 226.5!  I was ecstatic.  Not only did I break the 230 pound barrier, I surpassed it by almost 4 pounds.  

     The rest of the week, I did not see any number above 230 on the scale whether i weighed  myself in the morning or at night, so I think I have finally and completely passed that mark, and the two thirties are a thing of my past.  I am definitely moving in the right direction toward my goal of weighing two hundred ten pounds by my 24th birthday.  I have about 17 pounds still to go with just over 17 weeks until the big day.  

     I know it will not be easy...having gotten to a point where exercise alone will not take the pounds off.  I now need to exercise and focus on what I am putting into my body on a daily basis, something which had not been a great issue in the past.  With the holiday season soon approaching, I know there will be challenges for me ahead (especially as I bake dozens and dozens of cookies for Christmas each year).  I just need to stay focused and keep my eyes on the prize.  

     Finally, I would also like to officially announce that I will be running the Inaugural Rock n' Roll Series Marathon in Washington D.C. in March.  I have not told anyone yet that I will be doing this, so for my readers...you are hearing it first!

That's all for now. Pre Race and Post Race blog posts will be up hopefully sometime Saturday and Sunday nights respectively.