Competition Goal

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Losing to Win 2015

Well, hello blog world... long time no write.

For those of you that have been with me before welcome back. 
For those of you that are here for the first time WELCOME. 

A little business up front: You will find that my posts are generally conversations I have had or am having with myself.  You may not find it interesting, funny or inspirational... you may even find it boring.  That's ok.  :-)  I will tell you that I DO NOT spell well, could care less about punctuation or grammar so, if those things are important to you I'm sorry in advance.

We're starting a new competition tomorrow.  Weigh in #1 of a six week challenge in which the goal is to lose 5% of my body weight. I am EXCITED.

I started my weight loss journey again back in May with a "Biggest Loser" group that was run by my friend Sarah... there have been A LOT of ups and A LOT of downs but I have lost weight.  It has been SLOW... but, I am losing.  Additionally, I'm down 2 pant sizes and 1 bra size (band not cup).  These physical changes did not become apparent to me until about 2-3 weeks ago. 

Since it's January 3rd then you all know that the holidays just passed and for the first time probably in my ENTIRE life I did not gain weight.  When I weighed in on Jan 1st I was EXACTLY the same weight I was in the 2nd week in December.  I'm had some loss and some gain in there but in the end I have neither... for that I am THRILLED!  I didn't think it was possible and that has gotten me thinking.

How often do we sell ourselves short by not believing in our ability to do something different?  How many of you said, "It's the holidays so I'll probably gain TEN pounds!"  How many of you ended the holidays being right?  How many of you at some point actually said out loud or even just to yourself, "I'm gonna start losing weight 'next year' so I may as well go all out.  After all, it's THE HOLIDAYS. 

Then at the end of each year we take stock in our situation, realize we didn't gain just 5 but 10, not 10 but 15 and tell ourselves we will do something different.  And every year we start off the next with a renewed, although pretend, faith in ourselves and our ability to follow through.  We make resolutions to change, improve, adjust or whatever but the year rolls on, birthdays come, vacation comes, stress, work, LIFE comes along and the next thing we know it's the "holidays" yet again and we are right back where we started.  Up TEN pounds and "STARTING OVER".

How about this year you don't
"start over"
How about this year you 
 
 

In 2014 I did NOT gain weight during the holidays, I didn't lose either but I call that a win. Suddenly, I have a renewed faith in myself and I find it propelling me into this new year.  Did you realize that if you lost just 1 pound per week this year at the end you would weigh 52 pounds less?  If you averaged a 2 pound loss you would weigh 104 pounds less....

I say it again: ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR POUNDS.
I know that's not possible for everyone because you don't have that much to lose but that just means you can get to your goal sooner.  

For me it won't happen with crash dieting, starving myself and obsessing over exercise.  For me it's eating MORE, A LOT MORE nutrient dense food and moving my body more.  I'm not going on a diet or planning to hit the gym 7 days a week.  I am not in it to chase a fad that will fizzle when my adrenaline runs out or when LIFE happens. I have no plans to make myself miserable with restrictions.  For me it means making small changes in my day to day life that will yield BIG results in the end... Here's to a new year.  I look forward to it.