30 Pounds Lost!

I have lost 30 pounds in three months, and that feels pretty awesome. I am just going to take a minute to bask in the glory of my accomplishment. The entire summer, whenever I slipped up on my diet or skipped a workout, I would feel so guilty and discouraged. However, my success shows that overall I have been staying the course.

I feel very proud of myself for finally sticking to something. I have tried to lose weight on my own before, but I never got very far. I always played sports growing up; and, I had never been absurdly overweight. This past spring, however, I was at a very low point psychologically and using food as comfort, so I packed on a lot of pounds. As summer began, I realized that I had finally reached a point where enough was enough. I could no longer go on being this unhealthy, and I was ashamed that I had let myself get that way. So, with the support of my family, I got on a new routine. I joined a gym where they not only lead me through strength training and cardio, but also helped me develop a healthy eating plan. I had to overhaul my entire diet. It was difficult and monotonous at first; but, once I started eating a variety of healthy things, it no longer felt so tortorous. In fact, I enjoy what I eat. It is possible to eat healthy things that taste good and lose weight without feeling like you're starving. Of course, there is temptation everywhere. I slip up on occassion; but, the key, I realized, is to just forgive yourself and start again.

The exercise has been incredibly beneficial as well. At my gym, I am being guided through weight lifting and strength training, which I had never done a lot of before. I am also using the elliptical there, which I had never used before. I feel like it takes more energy than the treadmill. I have been working up my endurance on the elliptical, and I feel that it gives me good results. I feel myself getting stronger and my endurance increasing. I am also on a mission to become a runner, especially outdoors, which I have never enjoyed at all before. I found the Couch to 5K program online, which is an awesome way for beginning runners to ease into it. I want to get through the program and do as much exercise outdoors as I can while it is still nice out.

I still have a looonngg way to go; I am aware of that. I am still about halfway to even being at an acceptable weight. The weight that I lost was ridiculous excess weight that should have never been there in the first place. Nonetheless, I am extremely proud of myself for getting rid of it. Never again. I am on the right path now. I am exercising a lot, and I can stick to my diet even when people around me are eating the things that I can't have. I definitely see and feel a difference in my body. My clothes fit better. In fact, I am in smaller sizes than I was at the beginning of the summer. Moving forward, I just want to stay the course; and, hopefully by December I will have lost another 30 lbs!