Happy Blog Birthday and a Winner!

 

Happy 1 year birthday to The Unlikely Success Story. We’ve come a long way baby! Here are some of my favorite posts through the past year.

My brain is a sitcom gone wrong.

Hello? The Old Me? We need to have a chat.

The Serenity Prayer, for us.

My First 5k, Happy Thanksgiving!

2009 Year in Review

I can’t believe how far I’ve come or how far the blog has come. Speaking of how far I have come. I’m going to show you guys a little something. My Mom found this OLD picture of me. I was probably about 20-21, somewhere in there. I was at my heaviest weight, someone around 250-260…100lbs heavier than I am right now. I lost down to about 180, then gained back to 209 and now I’m at 160. I wanted to show it because I want you to know…and I never want to go back to that.

2000-2001	2010

Thank you guys again for helping me stay accountable. Without you, my journey would not be nearly as successful.

Ok, now that the birthday stuff is done. Let me tell you who won the $60 CSNStores gift card! ****DRUM ROLL PLEASE*****

The winner is Tracy! I’m happy to announce Tracy as the winner. I’ve known her through the blogging community for years! She is an amazing writer and has recently begun her own weight loss journey and is enjoying rediscovering herself with a healthy lifestyle. I’m so proud of her! I am also thoroughly jealous because I want the gift card! ;) Congratulations Tracy!

I hope you are all having good weeks! I’m off to the gym. I’m going to try the exercise bike and see what happens. The knee has improved a little and I’m going crazy sitting still. I promise to stop if there’s pain! :)

Friday, friday, friday…

 

With my new schedule, Friday really doesn’t mean much to me anymore. I’m off on Thursday and Sunday, so I don’t even really have a true Monday either. Well, I guess my Monday is Monday, but you get the point. It’s hard to get readjusted. Next week I will work Monday – Friday because on Saturday, I run my 10k! Then, that will be my last weekend off until the Fall. Crazy Summer schedule. I am going to try and keep up with the blog though, it just may not be every day anymore. I hope you guys understand!

It’s Friday, so that’s weigh in day. Drum roll please!

160.8lbs (-2.6lbs)

Yay! That puts me less than a pound away from 50lbs of weight loss since I started last January.  I had a good week, good food, good work outs. It was one of those weeks were everything went smoothly. I know they don’t come along often.

Regardless of what my weight is, I’m feeling good about myself and that is what’s important. I took a recent picture to give you guys a recent progression, so, here you go!

49 lbs down! AND I’m wearing a skirt that’s above the knee. I never used to do that! It’s not the greatest picture, the husband is not very good with the camera. I feel healthy and I feel great. I’m enjoying the foods I love and I’m figuring out BALANCE. It’s amazing that I never understood balance and moderation before. Lately people have been telling me that I “inspire” them. I appreciate this so much, but I have to tell you, I never set out to be anyone’s inspiration. I am doing this for me. I do it for the way it makes me feel and I write about it to keep myself accountable. But, if I have inspired someone to live a more balanced life, that really is fantastic.

I just want to reiterate something to you guys and to myself. There is no quick fix, this is hard work. We all have rough days, weeks or even months. Just stick with it, it’s so worth it. Not just because of the way you look (although that helps) but because of the way you feel and the chronic health problems you could be saving yourself from!

One more thing! Last night for dinner, I made for the 2nd time Hungry-Girl’s Outside In Turkey Burgers.

Every time I make this burger I feel as if I’m indulging in some amazingly decadent burger. It’s only 4 WW Points. I love that. I can’t stress to you enough how yummy it is when you bite into the burger and taste all the yummy swiss cheese. PHENOMONAL. I ate it on an Everything Bagel Thin with some roasted asparagus on the side. Make it for dinner tonight! And it case you missed the link the first time, here it is again! Outside-In Turkey Burger!!!

For dinner tonight, I have no plan. I think I might make some Quorn and Qunioa. How many times in your life do you get to eat two foods that start with Q in the same meal? And I think it would be tasty. :)

What are you going to have for dinner tonight?

What a difference a year makes.

My "Before" picture was taken 1 year ago on Christmas day. Since I know I will be busy on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day the only thing I plan to do is stay relatively "unplugged" and enjoy the day with my husband, I decided to take my "1 year later" shot today. So here it is, the difference 1 year of healthy living has made.



44 lbs lost.
A 5k Ran
A healthy lifestyle learned and maintained
An "I can do whatever I set my mind to" attitude that I have never had before
Respect for myself, physically and mentally.

It's been an amazing year. Some of the changes I've made have been easy, others not so much...but the changes I have made I know will be permanent.

I still have some pounds to lose, I wasn't as good around the holidays as I had hoped to be but you know what is different this year? I didn't beat myself up over it. I indulged, most of the time in moderation but not always, and the next meal it was as if it never happened. There was no "Oh well, I went off the wagon..." free for all. I just accepted the fact that this is a busy and difficult time of year, did the best I could and will move along. I know that January will bring back routine, healthy eating and regular schedule will resume.

I am so proud of myself. It brings tears to my eyes to think how far I've come and how much I disliked myself and the way my life was going a year ago. While being overweight was a big part of it, it definitely wasn't all of it. Once you begin fixing things, it makes it easier to continue to do so.

The difference a year can make can end up saving your life. I know it very may well have saved mine.

I want to thank you all for reading my blogs, giving me support and encouragement and continuing to do so. I honestly feel as if blogging has been a huge part of this journey, holding me accountable in a way that makes it easier to say no. Thank you. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa) and a wonderful 2010!

Before & Now

My first progression picture, the dates are incorrect, the April pic should be 2009. 28lbs lost:



Another random shot, not sure the weight loss at this point:



The most recent progression, I've held pretty steady at 44lbs lost:



I plan to take another at Christmas 2009 for a full year progression. The biggest difference to me is in my face. I never thought my face was full before. It's amazing how different it looks to me now, but in a good way. :)