Motivation is an odd thing

I was going to wait to post this until I was finished the losing, but with the new 500 in 2010 challenge http://500in2010.blogspot.com/, I thought this would be as good a time as any. I have been working hard over the past year to lose some weight. Not a little weight. A. Lot. Of. Weight. I was always an athletic kid, and through college as well, and then life sort of happened and I had three kids and found myself extremely overweight. I tried hard many times to lose it, but I always regressed to my former ways. It is so much easier to give in to temptation with yummy things than to eat things that will fuel me well. Last January, Will's Dad died, and something clicked in my head. I saw all of the sadness that it brought to the entire family, and couldn't bear to think of leaving my family. I decided at the end of January to start hitting the gym regularly and happily, and I started eating whole foods and really thinking of food as fuel. Now, I still eat things I love occasionally, just not pounds of chocolate or serving bowls full of cereal. I can't really believe I let myself eat like that for so long. I was so tired and sluggish all the time. I didn't have any clothes that weren't elastic waist pants, and I never felt good about myself. I figured out that if I wanted the girls to be healthy and exercise I would have to be their role model. I have succeeded. Now when I am not home, they assume I am at the gym. Even if I have already been there earlier that day. I am not a food nazi, or an exercise lunatic, I try to do everything in moderation. I was starting to get really bored at the gym and was startimg to lose the excitement of going until LauraC threwdown the 500 in 2010 challenge. Now I am happy to go to the gym and am pushing myself harder than I ever have when I go. I think the challenge was just what I needed at just the right time, so I thank her for that. I also decided to train for the WIllow Tree Half Marathon In Providence, RI in May, which is about a week after my 32nd birthday. I feel better than I ever have. I have lost 80 pounds through eating (mostly) clean and exercising. I still would like to lose 30ish more pounds, but I am getting there and I am proud to be healthy and a good influence for my girls. I know they will be healthy and know how to take care of themselves, and now, so do I. I have very few pictures of me from before, because who wants fat pictures around? I didn't, and now this is my before picture. Now, I love to be in pictures, but I am usually taking the picture. In this one, it was Christmas, eleven months after I started the weightloss. Yes, I have all of my family piled on me (just the way I love to be), but you can get an idea. I will definitely post better pictures when I take some.