365 Days...and still going**with pics

Sarahsmiles0875 · April 2013

Do you remember in school, when you knew that you did a crappy job on a project or a paper, but were still hoping for a more optimistic grade, only to have the glaring red marker/pen highlight the mistakes and oversights you had made on said project or paper? Do you have that vision? My doctor’s approach had a similar affect on me. On April 19th, 2012 I went into my doctor’s office and she circled my age and my weight- in red no less. I knew I had not been taking care of myself, and yet was hopeful that it wouldn’t be as bad as it actually looked when it was noted on paper. She talked to me about having a surgical procedure so that I could begin to lose weight. This was the moment. You know those moments in your life where one has to decide to either *kitten* or get off the pot. I got off the pot.

My initial motivation was to set a good example for my child, improve my relationship with my partner, and to buy clothing in any store that I wanted. I have achieved all of the above; in addition, the most important achievement has been my overall health enhancement. In order to come even close, I had to say good-bye to many of my bad habits. I began by simply following the calorie counter on MFP. Then I slowly began to incorporate minimal exercise into my daily activities. The weight just started to come off.

When I started this process I weighed in at 253 lbs with a BMI of 43.4
One Year Later and my weigh in is 174 with a BMI of 30.7

While I do have a ways to go, I am still proud of the success of the past year on my health and of the health in our home. We have learned how to prepare better meals for our family, incorporate daily activities into our already busy schedules, and hit the gym! We have also signed up to participate in two 5K’s this Spring and Summer which is very exciting for our family. I have discovered that a snack is NOT a bag of chips and dip and that elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, & supper is a consumption schedule left best to the Hobbits and not my metabolic system

These last few months have also rocked our family with a close family member’s diagnosis of a terminal illness. While the stress and sadness of this has not altered the course of my progression during my own health improvement journey, it has awakened yet another dynamic in the importance of taking care of one’s own health. This is our ONLY LIFE! We get one shot at it. Take care my friends, my family, my comrades, and yes- some days are harder than others, and there are some weeks where all you want to do is chuck that scale out the door-hold on, persevere through it..don’t give up, and just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming!

THEN!!

NOW!!!!