Back in Onederland

Nope. I didn't misspell that. I did mean ONEderland. What in the world is onederland, you ask? Onederland is something that is very important to someone who has ever been significantly overweight, enough to be over 200 lbs and then been blessed enough to lose enough of that weight to weigh less than 200. One-derland, as in, my weight begins with a ONE. Again!

I started my weight-loss journey at a whopping 295.6 lbs in September of 2005 (likely NOT my all-time highest weight, but big enough, to be sure). I reached my goal weight, safely in onederland, of 180 lbs a year later and firmly believed that I would never again have a weight that started with a TWO.

I maintained that weight loss for almost exactly one year, which is an accomplishment in itself. But then, I got sloppy, bad habits crept back in and by the start of 2009, I was firmly in the low 200's. About 1 month ago, I weighed in at my post-WW highest weight of 212.4 lbs. I was mortified by that weight.

Around the same time, I was considering to begin training for what would be my 2nd 1/2 marathon at the beginning of October and I knew that there was no way that I would be able to carry an extra 32 lbs for 13.1 miles, so something had to give.

Well, I buckled down on the WW program. I decided that what worked before would work again. I set a firm goal in front of me that was only indirectly related to my weight...I was going to run that race and I needed to lose significant weight before I did.

4 weeks later, I weighed in today at 199.2. 13.2 lbs gone, and I'd love to drop another 8-10 before race day (10/3). I have been training well and my pace is returning to what it was back then, though the 8:22 pace I set in 2007 will be difficult to match, let alone beat. But that doesn't mean that I won't try!

So, where does that leave me? Pleased. Happy, but definitely not satisfied. I will return to my goal weight.