Did I really just eat that?? And other fun parts of my adventure...

I help my mom with coaching a Special Olympics swim team.  It's fun, a great way to give back to the community and I love seeing our swimmers succeed and celebrate their accomplishments!  So, the first weekend in April was our end of the season party.  I'm usually "in charge" of getting everything set up as people bring food in.  I don't mind and, in the past, it meant I got to sample all of the yummy desserts and other snacks people dropped off.  This time was a little different.  Mom and I had gone for a walk for about an hour.  I had a couple of snacks packed so that, hopefully, I wouldn't be tempted.  The sweets kept piling in and then, the pizza showed up.  If you don't me, just know this - I LOVE pizza.  I swear I could eat it every day all day.  So, the smell was driving me a little crazy.  But, I ate my apple and something else and just stood on the other side of the room away from the pizza and all the goodies.  I also sent a picture of all of the temptations to Renee' and she told me all my hard work was worth more than a bunch of processed, sugary food.  I needed to hear/see that to keep myself away!  The party was a success and I managed to stay away from the food.

On my way home, I had to run a couple of errands and then I knew I wanted to go for another walk and pack up my winter clothes.  She kept trying to convince me to eat this sushi stuff.... I was really reluctant but I gave in and bought a veggie roll.  I went for a walk while I worked up the courage to eat it.  I asked her if I could just stare at it but she said no ;)  Plus, the restaurant gave me chopsticks which I thought was hysterical because I have trouble eating with regular utensils, let alone something from a foreign country.... I thought they were trying to be funny by giving them to me.  Well, I put it in my mouth and I managed to finish the whole thing.  Definitely wasn't my favorite thing I've ever eaten but I managed to get it down.  And I haven't eaten it since... I haven't completely gotten rid of that avoidance thing that I am pretty good at!

That night, I pulled the majority of my winter clothes out of my closet.  Normally, I would put them in the storage bins that I was getting my spring/summer clothes out of.  Not this time.  Instead, I had a bunch of garbage bags that I packed them all in.  The next day I dropped them all off at Goodwill.  No turning back now!

The next week I actually decided to go back and workout with Renee' on Tuesday.  I think it was actually kinda fun and despite the fact that I couldn't move the next day, I knew it was good for me.  Since I was still really heavy (and not in very good shape), she wouldn't let me do a lot of the same things the other people were doing.  I was fine with it - I didn't want to hurt myself in any way.  Plus, I'd rather not be in the middle of a group!  So, I went outside for the first 20 minutes and walked with one of the trainers - I think I may have said 30 words to her - definitely an improvement!  When they were ready to start the weight stuff, I went back in.  Did more stuff with those band things and squats with weights and stuff.  I seriously have no idea what any of the stuff I was doing is called.  I nicknamed one of the exercises "tricep thing".  That's the only muscle I knew the name of :)

I was fully expecting to not be able to move the next day but I actually wasn't sore.  Made the mistake of telling Renee' that - she said - we'll just amp it up next time - My response - Oh goody!

That Thursday, I was in absolute shock when I stepped on the scale and had lost another 4 lbs.  Who does that almost 3 months in??  Crazy but fun!  Later that day, Renee' sent me a picture of one of her lunches.  I told her 'Looks pretty, what is it?'  She told me I had to guess - she said it would be educational for me but I really think she was in the mood to laugh hysterically at me :)  But I was laughing at myself like I usually do so it's all good.  I managed to guess a most of the things correctly and she gave me a B!  Still feel pretty dumb about food but I didn't do as bad at the guessing game as I thought I would!

I kept working out and she kept telling me I was an inspiration to people - I told her I don't think so.  I couldn't figure out why she kept telling me that.  It would take me awhile before I would start to understand what she was talking about... At the time, I was just thankful to my brother for introducing me to her and that we had become friends.  It was only mid-April and there were still so many amazing things in store for me :)

Picture from April 2013 below :)