Hey there! I wanted to take a minute of your day and update you on my progress since my last post!
It's been 3 weeks since I started back to trying to lose weight and thus far I have made only dietary changes, no exercise. I hope to incorporate activity in the future, but for now I'm just focusing on food as it seems to be my biggest competition!
Here are some results:
Starting Weight: 222lbs
Current Weight (as of today): 214.0lbs
8lbs....not a huge loss, but it's a little more than 2lbs per week which is healthy I think. I prefer slower weight loss as it gives your skin time to adjust so you don't get that saggy look! LOL. I've enjoyed the journey so far, mainly because it hasn't really felt like an effort! Matt has been amazing at cooking up delicious yet nutritious meals and being a great support and keeping us both on track! That helps a whole lot!
So today is a special day because it's ..... my birthday! Yes today I turn 28 (cough)......ok I'm 34! There I said it! Although it's still hard to imagine that I'm actually almost midway through my 30's! What the heck happened here? I was 21 yesterday.
Alas, this is the day I reflect back on the last year of my life and analyze what's been good, bad, ok and anything I wish to forget about! Looking back over this past year (from 33 to 34) I can't really say there has been much bad or things I want to forget. I ended up in a job that I've been working toward for a few years, I'm still with the love of my life, my family and friends are all in good health and doing well. Which by the way I have some pretty amazing friends and family who have made this past year particularly wonderful! So shout out to them!
Weight wise this time last year I was about 180lbs. So that is a disappointment to know that I'm about 34lbs heavier today than I was on my birthday last year. But the good news is, I'm working on it. When I first started this blog (if you go back and read day 1 in November of 2011) I said that this was a never ending quest. I don't think we ever truly reach and maintain a satisfactory weight or image of ourselves....we work constantly on improving it and it seems like we are never happy. I remember being 21 and 150lbs and thinking I was so fat and hideous (in my 30" waist!) Funny isn't it....I'd kill to be 150lbs again!
My point is that our self esteem and self image is a never ending conquest to be better. You have to be careful though...don't be self defeating to the point that you put yourself down or lower your own self esteem. We deal with enough a$$holes in the world who judge us, we don't need to be so hard on ourselves. Give yourself some credit...so what if you don't have a six pack washboard stomach....maybe you have an amazing smile, or gorgeous eyes, or nice a$$, or a huge heat, great hair or a combination of any of those things or all of them! We all have good attributes and while we are working on changing the ones we can and want to, we need to accentuate the positive attributes and things we like about ourselves in the process.
Whatever your goal is...stay focused...don't lose sight or hope. Falling down is inevitable, no one ever learned by being perfect from the gate. Failure breeds progress and success, you just have to be strong enough to make it through the down times to come out ahead on the other side.
With that, I am off to enjoy a celebratory birthday lunch somewhere with tasty calorie and fat free birthday food! Because as we all know....on your birthday....calories and fat don't exist! :-)
Good luck to you in your journey, remember the only person keeping you from succeeding is yourself! You can do it, so can I, we just have to DO.
All the best,
Keith
