Year end is around the corner

Good morning and TGIF. As I was recording my weight into the weight chart I realized that the last weigh in of the year is 4 weeks away!! Crazy! This year has gone by so quickly. I came into this year wanting to lose weight (again), just like I had every year for the last bazillion or so. On January 12, I saw the highest weight I've ever seen in my entire life: 222.0 pounds. I cried. How did I go from being a fit soldier, a fit mom and triathlete, to someone so overweight that walking the dog 2 blocks was painful?

I wish I could tell you what changed - what finally clicked. I can't. I just know that I decided that I couldn't live like this any more, and when I looked around I realized that the reasons behind my weight gain had vanished - the only thing left to do was to get rid of the weight as well.

I began stumbling out of the gate: January saw my weight waffle up and down, ending the month actually a pound higher than I started it. February was better - I lost 4.6 pounds. March was 2.4 - I was creeping down the scale. In early April I saw another gain and something just snapped. I was tired of playing the up and down game. At that point I'd begun attending the weekly "Move It" classes at the VA designed to help with weight loss, but I was still struggling. I decided it was time to put my money where my mouth was. I signed up with a nutritionist and asked my husband if he wanted to go as well. It's costing me $150 a month for both of us to go. But I knew that if I had some financial "skin in the game" I was more likely to follow through.

That seemed to work. With the combination of the VA class, the nutritionist, and my mindset I finally seemed to find my groove. Since that first week of April I've only had 2 weeks where I posted a gain: the August vacation and the first week of November. This morning I weighed 171.4 pounds.

I've tried to be transparent here about what I'm doing and answer questions you may have. I don't consider myself to be on a "diet" - I'm trying to eat healthier and in a way that feels sustainable. I'm engaging in physical activities that I enjoy and can incorporate into my schedule. My solutions won't look like anyone elses, but they work for me. For me, the best part is the realization that my life has been transformed to a point that I no longer feel the need to use food or "mommy juice" to cope with things that made me unhappy - they are gone from my life.

Not that everything is perfect - far from it. But I'm happier and less stressed than I have felt in ages. That right there feels every bit as good as the physical transformation I've undergone. I told my husband last night - I'm beginning to feel like myself again. This lifestyle feels like the "real me."

I hope you have a great weekend!