Happy Motivational Monday! I hope everyone has had a great week. I was very excited to see that I am back at my goal weight after being a few pounds over goal for several weeks in a row. I'm so glad that I caught it before it turned into the same 15-20 pounds I tend to gain each spring/summer! Over the past couple of weeks, I've worked hard to get rid of those few pounds, and it was great to see my goal weight on the scale again.
I'll jump right into the motivating e-mails I got from readers this week. Enjoy!
I'm going to start with my sister, Jeanie. I know I'm always bragging about her, but I can't help it--I'm super proud of her. She's worked really hard to get where she is! In the first picture below, she was 158 pounds (last summer); the current picture was taken today, at 130 pounds (check out those abs!). She did this from following Weight Watchers for her diet, and in December, she started running in order to participate in my Runs for Cookies Virtual 5K on my birthday. She got hooked on running, much like I did. This week, she was really proud to run a 10K at a 10:35/mi pace!
Brandi sent me this e-mail, and I didn't want to edit anything out; so here is the whole story:
"I wrote you back in February of 2012 telling you how much you had inspired me. I was an overweight mother of two who felt fat, tired and hopeless. After reading your blog, I started the couch to 5K program and eating healthy. I lost 36 pounds by July of 2012 and was feeling great. I had run several 5K's and a 10K.
In late July I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer at age 36. I had a mastectomy in August, dose dense chemo from September to December, radiation from January to March, and a hysterectomy (to try and slow my estrogen feeding cancer down) in late March. During chemo I gained back 30 of the pounds I had lost. A combination of all the steroids they give you and as you can imagine, some emotional eating. I was unable to run or really workout during chemo because I felt so poorly.
I did start running again during radiation to try and fend off the fatigue. Then I was unable to exercise once again when I had my hysterectomy in March. I am finally feeling a bit like my old self and I've lost 13 pounds since I finished chemo.
This past Saturday I reached a major goal I set for myself, I finished my first ever triathlon. It was a super sprint triathlon, so a 1/4 swim, an 8 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. I did it! It was hard, and I had very little time to train, but I did it! Exercise makes me feel like I'm showing the cancer who is boss. I just wanted to say thank you for your blog, it encourages me everyday since I share some of your same struggles!"
Louise ran a 10K race on Saturday, followed by a 5K race on Sunday. Her nine-year old daughter, Katie, ran the 5K also, and Louise said "left me in the dust". Louise proudly finished the 10K in 1:15, and the 5K in 38 minutes. She said her daughter finished the 5K in 20 minutes, which just blows my mind! Great race for both of them :)
Here, Sara describes this picture from her anniversary cruise with her husband:
"My name is Sara and I have been reading your blog for the past two years; I look forward to reading your posts everyday! I wanted to include this picture from my anniversary cruise that my husband I just went on. We booked the cruise shortly after we got married in June of 2011, and around Christmas of 2011 I realized I had put on about ten pounds of 'so happy because I just married my best friend' weight. Well, I got serious with running / walking in January of 2012, and since then I have managed to walk/run 1,303 miles in eighteen months. Considering that I'm a seventh grade teacher (plus just finished my masters in administration and supervision) it hasn't been easy doing the walking and running, but I have been astounded with how much better I feel after a run or walk.
I just hit 459 miles for this year and hope to hit 1,000 miles by New Years Eve. The dress in the picture is actual from my last sorority formal during my undergrad (2010) and I was so pleased when it fit perfectly a weeks ago. With the consistent running / walking, I've also managed to lose 20 pounds since starting in January, 2012. I still want to lose about 10 more, but I wanted to show my progress and thank you for all of the motivation!!"
Sara, I totally understand the "so happy because I just married my best friend weight" ;) You look fantastic!
Don't forget to check out some motivating posts on Facebook as well!
