Setting My Next Goal!

I strongly believe in setting goals for many areas of your life but perhaps none as much as when you are on a weight loss journey.  I am one that likes a challenge--and one who HATES to fail at that challenge!  As a result, when I set goals I find I am much more successful at losing weight.

Most people jump in with a big goal like "I want to lose 100 pounds."  But this can be troublesome as this is a huge goal and will certainly take a long time to accomplish.  I usually have a big goal in my head somewhere, like the 100 pound goal, but like to set little goals along the way for myself and sometimes even attach rewards to them.

Like I shared in my last post, I am currently down 44 pounds.  My next goal?  50 pounds!  I feel like that's a big one and something to be celebrated!  

Next goal on my journey:  Hit the 50 pound mark

Date to accomplish goal by:  February 29th

I feel like this is a totally attainable goal and one that is realistic and allows for "life."  There will be nights out and some occasional chocolate and that's OK!  Sometimes you just need to drink that glass of wine!  Life happens!

The Journey Continues...

When I last updated this blog, it was March of 2017.  Almost 7 years ago.  A lot has happened since then—some good and some bad—and ultimately, I have ended up back in a place where I never thought I’d be again—overweight and unhappy with myself.  

 

If you followed my journey before, you know that I lost about 118 pounds in a little over a year.  I went from a size 24 to a 12 and felt like I had changed my life.  And I had….for a while.  I threw away all of my “fat clothes” and felt so different in my skin.  

 

But life happened.  Stress, Covid-19, the death of a parent, family issues, deep hurt from the most unexpected places, medical problems, surgeries, vacations, children graduating from high school (and even one of them from college!).  And how did I handle all of this?  The same way I had in the past—I turned to my old friend, food.  In what seemed like the blink of an eye, I had gained back a large chunk of the weight I had worked so hard to lose.

 

So, in July of 2023 I decided it was time to fight this demon again.  I have a somewhat different mindset this time and an incredible amount of support (more about that in a future post!).  I lost my weight before by following the Weight Watchers program and am once again taking that approach as I truly believe it is the best (and healthiest) plan for weight loss.  Full disclosure, I am employed by Weight Watchers but even if I wasn’t, it would be the program I would follow.

 

I am happy to report that since July of 2023 I have lost a total of 44 pounds.  It hasn’t happened as quickly as it did last time—age & menopause are a real thing!  I’ve had some ups and downs, mostly through the holidays, but overall, I feel pretty good about what I have accomplished so far.

 

I wanted to re-start this blog as a way to track my own progress and share with others who can relate to this struggle.  I have a lot of things I want to talk about as I find it helps me to write things out and if it can help others at the same time that’s a bonus.  When the blog was active before I would hear from people who enjoyed knowing that someone else understood what they were feeling and from people who enjoyed the recipes I posted.  My plan is for this to be more of the same—a place to share my progress, recipes and feelings.  I would love to hear your comments or for you to reach out if you need support.  And if it’s not for you, no worries, I’m going to do it anyway as I find it’s helpful to me in my journey.

 

So buckle up—it’s gonna be a bumpy ride! 

2017:  I was feeling so good here!

2017: At my son's soccer senior night

July 2023--I hate looking at this picture!

July 2023--Back to where I swore I would never be again!