IT. FITS. My parents dropped my senior prom dress off a few weeks ago when emptying the last of my childhood room’s contents. Much to my delight, when I tried it on it zipped…all. the. way. This might not seem like a big deal, but due to the other childhood content drop offs and photos I’ve rifled through and number of times I’ve found myself saying, “I can’t believe I thought I was fat then,” it was definitely exciting for me.
Back in February BC (before COVID) I blogged about starting intermittent fasting and promised an update. It has arrived, seven months and a global pandemic later. Cutting right to the chase, intermittent fasting turned out to be not my thing. I stayed at it a few more weeks after the blog but it wasn’t sustainable for me, and since I was not seeing the results I’d hoped for it was not worthwhile. I switched gears, started Noom and it was exactly what I needed.
This year has been about developing and maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle in addition to losing weight. Why? Because right now laughing, chasing and playing on the floor with my kiddos is part of their love language and I want to be able to do as much of that as possible.
Along the journey I’ve learned a lot about the mental components of weight loss over the last nine months and possibly even more about myself. Here are a couple lessons in the event that you need them as much as I did.
Ask yourself why you’re doing something before you just dive in.
Then ask why again.
And again.
And keep going until there are no more whys.
This leads to your ultimate WHY.
If you have toddlers or curious children, they’ve already shone a light on how many levels of WHY truly exist. Try it with anything you set out to do, it’s amazing what you might discover. The ultimate why will keep your focus even when progress stalls. As I mentioned, I’m after a healthy lifestyle because I want to keep up with my kids and show them love in the way they feel it right now. I also want to make sure I’m around for them as long as possible and a healthy lifestyle is within my control in an effort to make that happen.
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
Success is relative and as Teddy said, comparison is the thief of joy. Have you ever felt pretty awesome about something you’ve accomplished only to compare it to someone else and felt the wind suck right out of your sails? Yeah, that’s the worst.
Everyone is in a different place, some at the starting line, some at the finish and a bunch at some mile marker in between. Stay focused on what you’re trying to achieve and celebrate the strides you’ve made.
At this point, I’ve hit my weight loss goal, officially down 52 lbs. Maintaining this lifestyle and staying healthy will be work, but knowing why I’m doing it definitely makes a difference. For those of you that have been part of my cheering section along the way, thank you for your support!
I’m celebrating with a 30-day challenge this month. If you’re up for it, check out this 30-day that I’m following in addition to running 2 miles a day. If you start up, keep me posted on how it’s going!
<3 Erin
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