Yup, I'm really doing it.

If you could see me right now, as I type, sitting in my overstuffed leather chair with my pajamas on, flu faced with the "I've clearly been sick in bed for a week hair (ew, YES it's clean...just extremely unkempt)" you would most certainly hedge your bets against me.  Mrs. Blithe (named changed to protect the innocent) used to tell me, "Little girls with pudgy stomachs need to suck them in," in her most sing songy voice of condemnsention (yes a mixture of both).  She would certainly not approve of my posture right now, nor would she approve of my bulging waistline that I'm unapologetically presenting as I slouch in my big fat chair.  In fact, allow me to share: 

As you can see, I clearly have a *lot* of weight to lose.  Not as much as before, though!:

Yep, I've lost about 120 lbs since then...which is good...but not as good as when I'd lost 160 lbs since then:

The picture above was taken in August of 2008.  For those of you who may not have read any of my other *riveting* blogs, I will share with you that I had lap band surgery in October of 2007. 

The Down Low on Lap Band Surgery
Lap Band surgery is a minimally invasive laparoscopic weight loss surgery.  A small adjustable band is placed around the top area of the stomach, creating a small pouch, that contains about an ounce of food.  When the pouch is filled, the feeling of being satiated occurs.  The band is connected to a port, located under the skin, normally somewhere on the left or right side of the stomach.  Saline is adjusted into the port to control the amount of restriction in the band.  This is called a fill. 

I had great luck with the lap band - I lost the 160 lbs in the first year, and then I gained 30-40 of it back (depending on the week) since then.  First I was derailed by gallbladder disease, then multiple injuries, and overall I just didn't make health the priority I needed to this past year...but that's all changing now.

So here I am, in all of my glory (as pictured above), ready to get going.  I was planning to train for a half marathon this year, but after discussing my knee injuries with my MD, she has recommended I train for a mini triathlon instead.  I didn't even know there was such a thing, but I'm excited to get started.

A mini triathlon or a sprint triathlon, is generally .25 - 5. mile swim, 10-15 miles of biking and a 2-5 mile run.  I found a fairly easier (as mini triathlon's go) triathlon in Delaware in June.  It's a .25 mile swim, 10 miles of biking and a 2 mile run.  I also found a more challenging triathlon in Georgia in June, that's a .33 mile swim, 14 mile bike ride and 3 mile run.  I plan to do both.  Delaware will be practice for Georgia.

I have just about 5 full months to prepare.  My journey is dependent upon a great deal of weight loss, physical therapy for my knee, better control over my asthma and a rigorous training regime.

For my weight loss journey, I'm doing a local version of the Biggest Loser with some friends and my sister.  We all do a wonderful job of steering each other off track, so let's hope the same works in reverse! 

Also, I haven't had a fill for my lap band in about a year and a half, so I'm loooong overdue.  I have one scheduled for Tuesday, and I'm hoping that helps me over the hump I haven't been able to get over in a year.

I finally visited my MD to discuss my knee injuries, and she already approved me for physical therapy, so I'm calling on Monday to schedule that first thing.

I have found some great triathlon work out guides online, so I'm going to follow one of those for my workouts, but if you have ideas, let me know!!

My goal is to transform my current lump of self into a triathlete!  It's my turn to tri!!