My journey to get healthy started on June 1, 2012. It was the first official day of summer break and I signed up for a three-month subscription to Weight Watchers.
I had tried (and failed) at Weight Watchers many times before. I don’t know what was different this time, I just promised myself that I would do it for the whole three months and if I didn’t like it at the end, I could quit. I committed to three months of no cheating, doing what I was told, and being honest with myself. That was probably the biggest thing, admitting that I wasn’t honest with myself a lot of the time.
At the end of the three months, I’d lost 20 pounds and was hooked. More than half the battle of food for me was mental. What I thought I needed, what I was craving, eating without thinking, eating when I wasn’t hungry, eating because I was bored. I also thought I had 20 pounds to lose and then I’d be at a good place. It wasn’t until I lost those 20 pounds that I realized how much weight I was actually carrying around and how bad things had gotten.
At this point on my journey, I’ve lost 44 pounds. I go back and forth, sometimes on Weight Watchers and focused on losing weight, while other times, I just work on maintaining and testing out the waters of making good choices on my own. The journey has been slow and steady. I know there are people that have lost twice as much weight as I have in the same amount of time, but I can’t compare myself to them. Their journey is different than mine.
For me, I feel I’m losing it slowly enough, and making enough healthy, better choices for my life, that this will stick. This is a lifestyle change, not just a diet. I had to relearn how to eat, how to think about food, how to move my body.
There is no finish line now. I don’t have a weight to hit so I can start eating fattening, delicious, decadent food again. I’m changing my eating habits for life. There isn’t a number that will magically mean I don’t have to go to the gym anymore. I’m going to the gym now. And I’ll keep being active for life.
Through this process, I’ve learned some things about myself, about my body, about food, about exercise, about motivation, that I wish someone had told me a long time ago. I don’t know if I would have listened, if it would have made a difference sooner, but this week I’m going to share it with you. Because maybe you’re ready to make better, healthier choices. Or maybe you’ve been making them for a while and need a little kick in the butt (this happens every few months for me), or maybe you’re just thinking about making some better, healthier choices and something you see here might work for you.
I’m not an expert by any means. But I’m finally learning, at 32, how to be the expert of my body. And it feels so great. So join me this week, add to the conversation, and let’s talk about getting healthy.
The rest of the series:
resolve to be healthy: mindset
resolve to be healthy: motivation
resolve to be healthy: food
resolve to be healthy: exercise
Great post! I didn’t realize I was such an emotional eater until a personal trainer really stuck it to me. Apparently I was (and still occasionally do) rewarding my parenting day with a few extra snacks. I wish you were closer so we could walk that mile after work. That would be a blast!
That would be so fun! Move now please.
Love this. I too, am in the process of trying to get this whole “lifestyle change” thing down while never having time to take to myself to get to the gym. It’s a tricky balance! Can’t wait to read more about your journey– you have already inspired me.
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now; I find you so relatable, and articulate, and honest. Something from this particular post has really stuck with me throughout the week. You said: “There is no finish line now. I don’t have a weight to hit so I can start eating fattening, delicious, decadent food again. I’m changing my eating habits for life. There isn’t a number that will magically mean I don’t have to go to the gym anymore. I’m going to the gym now. And I’ll keep being active for life.”
I, too, am an emotional eater, and lost 50 pounds about 4 years ago on WW. I have gained almost all of it back in the last year which was, in most respects, a complicated year. I had foolishly believed that I reached my finish line, and have been frustrated at my regression. Your words have pointed out to me the issue that I’ve been missing all along, and offered me some hope and motivation. Thank you!
This comment made my day, so thank you. Sometimes I have to remind myself hourly that I’m always a work-in-progress and that I’m creating a new normal. It’s still hard, but worth it. It’s so amazing that you lost 50 pounds and you can do it again if you want to! Thanks for reading and commenting, I often wonder when I hit publish if this helps anyone. I know it helps me, so that’s enough, but thank you for relating to me. If makes me feel less like a weirdo. HA!
Bravo! I lost 35ish pounds on WW back in 2006, and managed to keep it off for two years, then bitterly failed for the next several (I’ve been back since late 2011 and have yo yo-ed back and forth between the same ten pounds.) Now, I feel my real, non-cheating motivation, circa 2006, coming back. I hope to finally make it stick this time, at age 30 going on 31! Thank you for your story, it motivated me even more.
Glad I could help! Yo-yo weight is the worst, I hear ya. I would say motivation is 50% of the battle so you can do it if you really want to! Good luck!
Thanks for sharing your journey. It’s an inspiration and challenge! I lost 35-40 lbs two different times in the last 2 years. And both times I gained it all back. Now at my highest weight ever I have an inner struggle of wanting to make a life change and doubting that it possible for me. Thanks for putting this out there so that I know it is possible. It makes me want to take the leap and try again.