Focus...The Journey Continues

Some time in February, I visited Dr. Spencer and discovered that my thyroid was low and we began working to get it within the normal range.

The cleanse had ended and I still wasn’t always eating the best, but better than I did before. However, as the hustle and bustle of the spring began I found myself distracted and anxious. This had happened before (and it would happen again…). Whenever I began to drop weight beyond the 20 pound mark it seemed to become a problem. I began eating everything in sight. It didn’t even taste good! Graham crackers with frosting, stale chips, crackers, cold leftovers and I couldn’t stop. I determinedly continued to get on the treadmill.

February gave way to March.

One day after I had eaten myself sick, I was so desperate for answers I called my dad. Yes, that kind of desperate! After asking him to “put on his compassionate hat”, (my dad needs to be reminded of this sometimes!) Through my sobs, I explained my problem and asked for some insight. My dad knew me and loved me. Maybe he understood why I did this to myself. His advice to me was that I should put some things in place to help me maintain my focus on what it is that I want. In this case that was to be well and fit. After speaking to him I continued to pray that God would help me get a handle on this area of my life, that He would equip me with the knowledge I needed to achieve my goal.

By now I was running for at least 20 minutes a day.

Well, isn’t it interesting that about the beginning of April my friend Jennifer discovered that I had started running? She was almost giddy with excitement! Jennifer was training for a half-marathon and began lobbying for me to do a 5k with her. I wasn’t sure. That meant people would SEE me run. I didn’t know if I could do that. It’s one thing to enjoy my endeavors at home, quite another to have others witness them!

I thought about it for around a month and after remembering the conversation with my dad I decided to do it.

Focus. Hopefully training for that 5k would grant me some.

In the BIGinning...

Two years ago I was the heaviest I'd ever been. A whopping 248 pounds and I felt miserable! I wasn't fully living, I was existing. Sure, I did fun stuff. I socialized. I had activities I was involved in. But there was plenty that I dreamed of doing and I was not doing it at 248 pounds.

I considered sending in a tape to The Biggest Loser..."Jesaca, you have an awesome story. They'd totally take you!", said my closest friend. But, who would I ask to take my girls? Could I do that to them? We had only just begun to settle into our life after losing their dad two and a half years previous. I didn't want to put them through another transition.

But, I knew something had to change...

This journey toward fitness, wholeness really, restoration, began with a sniffle. I was sick. Then I became sicker. One trip to Urgent Care, two prescriptions, a trip to Disney, a chest x-ray and almost five weeks went by and I was still sick. After another visit to the doctor I was given a third prescription and told if I wasn’t better after this course of meds I could expect to have a sinus scan.

I knew what that meant and I wasn’t thrilled about anyone going at my sinuses with a scalpel.

Not to mention the nose packing afterwards that would have me looking like a cat for several days! No way.

I headed home from the appointment without bothering to fill the prescription. I knew why I felt so miserable. I didn’t take care of myself. My diet had been crappy. Exercise that involved any effort was non-existent. The body just doesn’t accept the excuse of being a tired, overwhelmed single mom that finds it much easier to order pizza or pop in chicken nuggets or corn dogs with a frozen veggie than creating a healthy meal for myself and my girls. I had run myself ragged and didn’t get enough rest, keeping busy and trying to escape the reality that my life is my life and will continue to be not exactly what I planned. It was time to get real and stop lying to myself.

So, I started consuming massive quantities of garlic. Yes, RAW. Every day.

After about a week, I was feeling much better! However, I was still dragging around and couldn’t seem to get any energy. It was time for a visit to Dr. Joe.

I was ready to do a cleanse.

By now it was the end of November and Dr. Joe wouldn’t let me do a cleanse! Not until after Christmas he told me.

So, I began to prepare mentally and emotionally. I’d done one before and I knew what it would take to come through it successfully. I organized my schedule around those 21 days. I canceled any plans with friends that might interfere…dinner dates especially. I knew what would be required of my willpower.

Supplements, protein shakes and raw fruits and vegetables for 21 days. I knew I could expect to feel awful for 2 or 3 of the first four days. Sure enough, achy body and headache assaulted full force. But by day 4 I was feeling like a new woman!

I wanted to be sure to pump all of the toxic garbage out of my system and committed myself to walking on the treadmill 3 or 4 times a week to get my lymphatic system moving.

At some point during that 3 week cleanse a strange thought popped into my head. I found myself wondering, “Could I run?”. That day I ran for 2 minutes.

Wow!

From that moment I began to push my running time up by adding a little bit more each week. I finished the cleanse feeling wonderful and dropped weight by 24 pounds and my cholesterol by 55 points. I decided to continue walking/running 2-3 times a week. I was determined to hang on to this new discipline in my life.

I was running-who ’da thought!