I had an event to attend and wanted a new dress. I didn’t need a new dress, but I really like new dresses. So I went online to do a little shopping and there it was…the most beautiful cocktail dress designed by one of my favorite designers. As an added bonus it was an unheard of 75% off! It was meant to be. I went to make the purchase then bam! They only had one size left and it was a size (or two) too small. I closed the browser window and tried to forget about the dress.

A couple days passed and I couldn’t forget the dress. I began thinking, what’s one or two dress sizes in terms of pounds? 10? 15? Maybe 20? With six weeks to the event, I figured I could drop those “few” extra pounds. Surely, there’s a lot of water weight that can go quickly, right? I bought the dress.

To make it into the dress of my dreams I decided to eat large salads for dinner and go for a hike in the park next to our house every day. That big-ass park is the main reason we moved to the neighborhood. No more driving 30-40 minutes roundtrip to enjoy these trails. Time to put them to use – post haste.

With headphones in tow I set off towards the park. It was hot that first day and I forgot water, but whatever. I was outside and I was moving and that’s what counted. I was putting one foot in front of the other then repeating. It was definitely slow going at first but “every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing” (thanks Barry Finlay). So I just kept climbing, albeit slowly.

When I got back to the house I gathered a few recipes for salads…mostly I just found ideas online for ingredients to add protein and variety. I didn’t skip on the cheese or dressings either. I didn’t want to lose weight in a way I wouldn’t be able to maintain long term, i.e the rest of my life. I made large salads topped with fancy cheeses, beans, quinoa, seasonal veggies, falafel, roasted chicken – you name it. I was always full after dinner – never felt hungry.

A couple of days later the dress arrived and it was stunning. I immediately tried it on. The husband tried to zip it up but it only went high enough to reach below my shoulder blades. “Oh look, back boobs!” he cheerily exclaimed while sticking his finger in between my rolls of fat. True love, right?

I went for a hike every day for seven days in a row. I admit I was bored with the pace. For years I was an avid mountain biker and snowboarder so all of this “slow” moving was getting to me. It was also June, meaning super hot, and with a 500+ foot elevation gain over the first mile, starting at an elevation of 6,200′, this hike isn’t the easiest. I would remind myself that I was doing this to fit into the dress and get rid of my back boobs. Take one more step. OK good, now one more. And just one more. I can reach the mountain top with one more step.

Then one day a woman ran by me as I was heading down.

Wait.

I can run? WTF. I picked up my pace a little bit. Then a little bit more. And more. Before I knew it, I was running too!

At that moment my life changed. That is no exaggeration – just ask the back-boob-loving husband. It was all I could talk about. In other words, saying I simply became obsessed with trail running is an understatement. It turns out trail running adds just enough danger, speed, and physical demands to keep me interested. No, not just interested, it’s enough to keep me enamored, focused, and maybe even a little bewitched. When I got home, I couldn’t wait to go back out the next day. At night, I had butterflies just thinking about it. Have I made my point yet?

After a few days of pretending to be a trail runner my ankles were really sore. My knees started to ache as well. I decided my (five-year-old) hiking shoes were all wrong for real trail running. I researched the best trail running shoes for my type of gait and trail surfaces, and went all in. A reviewer of my first pair of shoes said, “if you feel pretty, you will run pretty.” Hmmmm. In that case a new skort and top will also be required (grab a pair of those socks and a hat too).

Wouldn’t you know that girl was right.  I felt pretty and I KNOW I was running pretty. If nothing else my ankles stopped hurting. The knees? Well, that’s another story for later.

For the next five weeks I went for a hike or trail run nine out of every ten days. Some days I couldn’t get excited about it so I told myself to just put on the cute running outfit and shoes then step outside. Once outside I would tell myself, just walk to the corner. Then I’d tell myself to walk to the next corner. Then to the park entrance. And to that tree. Small steps add up to large accomplishments.

A few days before the event I tried on the dress again. I didn’t want to try it on after that first attempt until I was confident it would fit (with or without Spanx). It was still a little tight but guess what…it zipped all the way up! Success! I met my goal and as it turned out, it was easy.

It boiled down to two things.

During those first six weeks, my daily excursions up the mountain became less and less about fitting into that (effin awesome) dress. They became more and more about becoming a better trail runner. In short, I found an activity that kept me – and still keeps me – engaged. My mantra evolved from “dress, dress, dress” into “push off your back foot, land on the middle of your foot, breath.” While the event has long since passed, I’m still out there, heading up the mountain as often as my body can handle it. And yes, I still get butterflies thinking about my next excursion.

Having that event six weeks from my weight loss “launch” date also taught me an important lesson: if I don’t exercise today I have missed an opportunity to shed a few more calories – and it’s those daily little calorie deficits that add up to big deficits over time. There is no “work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for today” because I will need to shed tomorrow’s calories tomorrow! There is only today so I need to get out there, even if it’s only for a couple of minutes. Then a couple more minutes. And a couple more.