I Don’t Want To Wait

This week, I lost just short of 4lbs and nearly 2 inches off my waist. No holidays to hide behind, just focus and determination that even when it got hard, when it got sad, when it got difficult to get out of bed, I still hauled out my Nikes and hauled my weary carcass back up on the treadmill.

2020, in reflection.

Find the very best in every thing, because that might be all we get for right now. Make the very most of it. And when you find love, capture it. Nurture it. For a desire, a passion, a career, a partner, a home, a life. When you see light, follow it.

So, this was weight gain AND loss in 2020.

Trust your instinct. Trust your body. When something seems off, it might just be. I was gaining weight rapidly, and I knew it wasn’t right. I advocated and figured out what it was.

I Don’t Know About You – But I’m feelin’ 22

This week is Christmas. And I baked goodies. And I love turkey dinners. And Friday, I’m going to eat and be merry without caution, or rhyme or reason. Because as I’m learning to live, I have to be able to manage both – living and eating and breathing and being within healthy limitations. The scale read 177 this week. And the tape measure shrunk an additional inch. But I gained in understanding my body, the way it interprets food and how I plan to fuel it. And that is something I’m happy to carry around.

Ya Gotta Be 21+

I’ve gained a few pounds, but lost a few inches. But what’s more important than inches and scales and protein bars and whey powders is having the right mind set to say: no matter what else happens, it’s all supposed to happen.

20 Dollar Bills

And now, with a new gig starting Monday, my partner’s hand in mine, a new lease on 2020, I can go a little more confident into Week 21. Part of a physical weight loss journey is minding your mental health just as well.

VIP, 19+

I have to add one extra piece to this – you absolutely cannot lose weight effectively if you tell yourself you don’t want to program where you can’t “have a snack” if you want it. I’m serious. It’s not how it works. I sped my metabolism up by not cheating on the program. By not making minor concessions. At the end of month 4, I’m much more aware of what little nibbles of cheating can do to throw off an entire week. Imagine how much I would have lost if I hadn’t bowed to the simplicity of convenient food?

Hey! Mr. 18 Man, Play a Song for Me

And now, 4 1/2 months later, I’m down more than 50, and have successfully trimmed down 16″ off my waist. In fact, I did something today I haven’t since being a teenager – I tucked my shirt into the waist of my jeans. Find success in the smallest details. Because it’s a cultivation of all the little happy times that define the big moments.

On the Edge of Seventeen

50 lbs. Perspective: That’s a large bag of dog food. A typical bag of fast-setting concrete. A small bale of hay. An average male bulldog. Ha! Okay, that one made me laugh.