I’m the mom of 5 awesome kids. Three of them are on the autism spectrum, but so far when I drop a box of toothpicks, I just end up picking up a bunch of toothpicks. After reading Jenny McCarthy’s book, I put the whole family on the Gluten-Free Casein-Free (GFCF) diet. We had our ah-ha moment about three months later when Sean snuck a piece of pizza at school and later that night I had to peel him off the ceiling. Unfortunately, I regularly have to peel Skye off the ceiling gluten or no gluten. Apparently, that’s just Skye. So while I struggle to keep the house gluten-free, I do allow the other kids to indulge on occasion.

I have to factor this all in when trying to figure out my own diet. I’ve struggled with my weight most of my adult life, with some success. I reached my highest weight at 220 last year after hanging around 200 for most of the 21st century. I’m now at my lowest weight in 8 years: 158. Well, I was down to 150.8 back in April at the end of a radio weight-loss contest (I came in 2nd.) But that was only for about an hour, just long enough to get my official weigh in. I shot back up to the upper 150s by the end of that week and slowly inched my way up to 169 over the next several months.

My goal weight is 115. I am determined to hit it on April 11, 2009 - my 39th birthday. My goals for the next year are to run in a 5K, 10K, half-marathon and full marathon. I’ve been reading some really inspiring blogs lately and I’m very tempted to throw a triathalon in there too!!

Well, I thought I should update this since it’s now August 2009. I didn’t hit my goal weight by my 39th birthday, though I was in the low 140s. Unfortunately, immediate following my birthday (perhaps because of it, who knows) I started to slowly/quickly put pounds back on and found myself at 170 in late June. Which was just devastating. I’d basically lost all of my hard work the previous year and it was discouraging. I floundered in the high 160s occasionally touching 170 for all of July.

And then I decided it had to stop. Well, not exactly like that. Not just one day and lightbulb and that was that. More like slowing coming out of a fog. It took some time. And then I decided. I want to be strong and fit. Forty is just around the corner. The start of a new decade that I want to enter strong and confident. And I thought the perfect way to do that would be to run in a marathon. On my 40th birthday (which happens to be on a Sunday next year, and since most marathons are run on Sundays, I thought this plan might actually work!) So I googled April 11, 2009 marathon and the first thing that came up - PARIS MARATHON! And so, that’s what I’m doing. I’m training to run in a marathon in Paris France on my 40th birthday. I’m totally commited to this goal. I figured out I had 9 months to train which worked from the point I was already at physically (I hadn’t stopped exercising completely, just consistently.)

And that brings me to now. I’m still in the early phase. That marathon is still 8 months away. But I’m running 3 miles four days a week and my mileage is getting ready to start increasing this Sunday. To help prepare for the actual race part of the race, I’m registered to run in a 10K in September and a half-marathon in December.

I can’t really control the number of pounds I lose, I’ve come to realize. And setting weight related goals and rewards was not only discouraging but depressing. Now I set physical fitness goals and rewards. These are much more controllable and achievable. The weight will come. It’s taken me a long time to get to the healthy mind set and away from the skinny mind set (though I totally cop to wanting smaller size jeans and a tiny waist!)

Progress not perfection (the best mantra I’ve ever heard - thank you Weight Watchers!)