Image credit: photos.anthonyordille.org
In the beginning, the road to my weight loss goal seemed impossibly loooooong. In my minds eye, I saw it as a straight road that I could not see the end of. It slowly climbed upward and yet it had hills and valleys throughout. Looking back, maybe it was the Strolling Jim 40 mile course, HAHA, just kidding. It was a hilly course though, very much so. Here are a couple of pics for the fun of it
img. credit: http://www.tynesweb.com
- img. credit:www.tynesweb.com
Anyway, the road that I was about to start walking (weight loss journey road) seemed longer than imaginable. The vast amount of weight that I needed to lose coupled with the large number of bad habits that had to be replaced was it’s own discouraging weight. “Can I do this?” I asked myself. In fact, I asked myself for years before I even got to the starting line. Finally I was there at the start, 307.6 lbs. I had a long way to go.
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I made my weight loss goal 5 lbs. I knew I had a lot to lose, but WW hands out these stars for every five pounds lost. Those stars meant a lot to me and I made that my primary weight loss goal, collecting stars. Just 5 more lbs, come on baby!
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I set a small goal of increasing my activity by 5 minutes. This doesn’t seem like much, but I couldn’t do much in the beginning. Knowing that I could do 5 more minutes was really meaningful to me. It slowly increased my fitness and I felt less threatened by it. Kicking it up 30 minutes may have discouraged me.
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I made it a goal to slowly add more veggies and healthy food. In the beginning, I ate more “junky” food. I thank God for that because it allowed me to not feel deprived in my journey. As I began to like healthier things, I added them in. I did not just make a huge change and start eating all perfectly healthy and clean. I did stay in my points, but you get what I mean. I had done the drastic changes before and hated the deprivation that I felt.
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I made it a goal to slowly become more accountable and talk about my weight loss journey and what it meant to me. I figured from the start that I would have to come clean and talk about the travels down the long road. I just couldn’t come clean all at once. Slowly but surely I shared a little more at my WW meetings and with my family.
Breaking up that loooooooooooooong road to goal was so important to my success I think. It can really be such an unbearable weight to have to make life changes like this. It is so possible by putting one foot in front of the other minute by minute, day by day. Now my life is totally different. It is funny though, because now that I hit goal, I still see a long road in front of me. HAHA (Maintenance)
My angle on weight loss 
It’s like you are reading my mind, Jason. This is exactly how I did it, too. I was a 5-lb gal, for sure and before you know it, I was at goal. It really is all about small achievable goals.
Lter, you are so right. Small goals break down a long journey so that we can more easily see the end. Thanks a lot
I just started “eating clean” a few days ago, and even though I eased into it, I still want to hurt someone. This is just all part of the realization that I have to find something that works for me. Thanks for this post.
Thanks for your comment Angela. Good job on eating clean
I’ve been struggling with the idea of this long journey. I want it to go by quickly. I also get discouraged thinking that the long road mentality will never end. Come on Jason…tell me what I want to hear!! 🙂 I want to think that once I reach my goal that it will magically be easy to maintain. So…for right now…at the beginning of my journey…I’m not going to worry about the long road that starts after I reach a healthy weight. Lalalalala…I’m not listening. 😉 A little healthy denial. LOL
Just keep on keeping on. It still is work but it is kind of easier at the same time. I am going to do a post today about my struggle yesterday and today. It is still work:)
Thanks for sharing this. Some days I really struggle with the idea that it’s possible to ever hit goal. I mean that would mean that I’d have lost a total of 106lbs and who is to say that I’ll be happy at 150 when I get there, and not to mention I can’t even wrap my mind around the thought of just trying to maintain my weight after years and years of needing to lose the weight. But for now I’m just focusing on dropping down into that next 10 pound category one at a time!
Great goal. Just getting to that next 10 lb category. Good job. I struggle a lot Kari with what you said too, “and not to mention I can’t even wrap my mind around the thought of just trying to maintain my weight after years and years of needing to lose the weight.” I did not do good on my weigh-in last night and my post about it will be up around 10 am my time today. On maintenance, you have to gain, lose, gain, lose, because it is impossible to stay exactly the same. But as you say, the mind set for YEARS is lose lose lose. You hit goal and then freakin what. 🙂 Sorry, just having a bad day.
Jason, I imagine many people who have not struggled with weight as we have are always watching for those few extra pounds, then they kick it into gear and lose it again. We learn something new about maintenance when we get there….they have jsut always been in maintenance phase, not all but many. My “coach” (friend) is always surprising me with how much he can relate to my struggles even though in MY mind he doesn’t have anything to lose. But he does, because he has his own goals and he also has to break things down into smaller goals and remember to CELEBRATE when he reaches them! I think that is a big part of the process too. Whne you reach the next goal…5 LBS 10 LBS whatever…to remember to sufficiently and adequately celebrate that victory! Coach jsut reminded me yesterday when I called him yesterday to shout from teh rooftops my recent 5 lb loss! He said, so whatcha gonna do to celebrate. Well I thought I WAS celebrating by shouting it and being super excited. 🙂 I think today I am gonna try and lift a 37 lb weight to celebrate! 🙂 With him!
Oh…and I am super excited to make your blogroll!!! How cool is that?!?!??! and right above Rob too who I ALWAYS link to from your site anyway! LOVE IT!
Kim, you are sooo nice. Thanks for your contribution. You rock. Great job on your loss. I am very happy and honored to have you in the blog roll too. Keep up the good work. I am pretty pissed off today due to a bad weigh in. Feeling a bit confused, not giving up by a long shot, but a little angry. Maybe it is the fact that I count my coffee creamer as 1 table spoon when it is actually like 8 probably. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 🙂
Cracking up at the coffee creamer thing, I was just thinking the SAME THING this morning!
My damn gain got me all worked up. Then I look back at my tracker online and see that my none dairy creamer is 1 point per table spoon. Then I recall the visually memory in my mind of the other morning where I felt like I didn’t have enough time becuase it takes me like two minutes to get enough creamer into my coffee. I can actually check my email on my blackberry while I pour that dang stuff in. 5 tlbs may be serverely underestimating it. It was good though, I found a VERY weak link in my chain.