One Year!!

When you aren't ready, you can come up with so many reasons why you simply can't start changing your life today. Lord knows I was there and still am about a few things. The best advice I can give is to start. 

Just start. 

Forgive yourself when you slip up. Keep starting. As many times as necessary. 

This photo is from Christmas 2013, six months before returning to Weight Watchers.

I returned to WW on June 2, 2014. I've been to a meeting every week since with the exception of the week we were on vacation in February.

This photo was taken two weeks ago. I am, as of today, 69.2 pounds lighter. 

 

Do I look like I'm smirking? I was trying to look badass but the urge to laugh at myself was too strong. I have wanted a jean jacket for years. Decades! Whenever I found one that fit, it looked terrible. I seem to be living in this jacket now. It is a symbol for me. Also Michigan is still having cold weather even though it is now June 1st. 

What has this loss done for me so far?

• I move better
• I don't feel like I am sinking into furniture and worry about getting up 
• I don't crave the foods that I once did
• I no longer take blood pressure medication
• I have fun shopping for new clothes and shoes
• I have more confidence
• I like how I look and love how I feel

I am not at goal yet but I'm not worried about getting there. I KNOW that I will do this. My goal isn't actually the number that will eventually become my "normal weight". Any of us can reach that number if that is all we aim for. It is maintaining that number that can be the much harder goal. How do I know it will be different for me this time? Because my relationships with food and with my body have changed.

Food is no longer a celebration, a consolation, a time filler or an anger manager. Food is what I need to keep to going the way my car needs gas, oil and air in the tires. Some food tastes better than others but that doesn't mean I have to eat a pint of ice cream (gee, can you tell what tastes good to me?). A small amount today tastes good. Another reasonable amount tomorrow or the next day will taste good too. You don't put 30 gallons of gas in a car that has an 18 gallon tank. 

Never has the correlation between what I eat and how I feel been this strong. Maybe my senses were dull until I hit my 60s, but I am proof that Sixty can be Swell, maybe even Sexy....but only if you have a jean jacket. 

Onward and downward!