I started using the My Fitness Pal app again a couple of weeks ago. Two things that really caught my attention: my starting weight of 268 pounds (June 2011) and this progress chart. Can you say "yo-yo dieting"?
This picture was around the time that I was nearing 270 pounds. Let me spell that out for you: TWO HUNDRED and SEVENTY pounds. It's hard to look at pictures of myself from back then. Nope, not fun at all.
Back to that progress chart...
It's also really difficult to look at, too. All those hopes of "this time will be different" after falling off the wagon. Each and every time I quit, that hope was broken. I'm not sure why. Maybe progress slowed or stopped. Maybe I let a "life event" shift my focus. (2012 was a particular hard year... Cody, my oldest son, graduated and moved to Kansas to go to college!)
Maybe I just never found my "want to" or my "why" to stick with the journey. Until March of 2014.
Nothing particular happened in March. There wasn't an ah-ha moment that lead me to sign up for a 60 Day Weight Loss Challenge at a local gym (http://www.live-well-fit.com). I had been to this studio gym for a two-week trial last year. I didn't stick with it. (I wasn't ready... I hadn't found my "want to"). I had liked their page on Facebook and had seen the banner for the weight loss challenge. I'd started thinking about it for several days. One night, I grabbed my debit card, logged onto the website, and signed up. I remember closing my lap top afterwards and saying to myself, "no turning back now". I told my husband, "I just signed up for a weight loss challenge. Maybe it'll work this time."
Almost six months later... it's working. Little by little. Slowly but surely. At a snail's pace, it's working. Some days I still struggle to focus on my "want to", to remember my "why". (Read the last blog post.)
I have to believe what's made this time different is...
One- I found and I focus on my "want to" and "why". This is so important on this journey and unless your really ready, you won't succeed at this.
Two- the support of those around me. My family, friends, and workout partners. They know I am determined and I know they won't let me fail this time.
Three... The trainers at Live Well Fit. Enough said. I could not do this without them.
This past weekend while out of town, there was a full length mirror in our hotel room I could not avoid. While getting ready for the day, I glanced at the mirror beside me. My full-length body in view... and for the first time in a very long time, I thought something positive. "My butt looks smaller". I turned forward facing my reflection. "My hips and thighs, too". Hmm.... Maybe this is working." Then I put on my jeans and noticed they were a little more loose. A hallelujah, can I get an amen?!? moment for sure! ; )
More than that, it was shutting out the little voice in my head that beats me down rather than builds me up. And that my friends, is the best kind of progress that I'll ever experience on this journey.
Sept 2014
If you would like more information on Live Well Fit, let me know! The next 60 Day Weight Loss Challenge is coming up next month! If you have your "why" and your "want to" and you are ready... this is your life-changing moment! I will be there with you along the way!
~jen
