The Journey I take

There is a journey that each of us take. We wake up and decide the destination. Some days we are conscious of those decisions and other days the destinations come without our thinking about it. This is the story of one of the journey's that I take each day.  It is the journey of my weight.

May 10, 2003



I met and married my Prince Charming who loved me unconditionally. I always told him that I wanted to lose some weight. His reply was always the same, "You will when you are ready." That day came eleven months after I had our second child.  I stepped on a scale and I weighed MORE than when I had been 9 months pregnant with Riley. I also had to increase my pants size from a 16 to an 18.

This is three days after I began my journey @ 212 pounds





I decided that was IT. I wasn't going to buy bigger clothes. I wasn't going to be the mom who sat on the sidelines while her kids played in the park. I wasn't going to be the mom who didn't take her kids for walks because her knees hurt. I WAS going to be the mom who played with them, who ran around the yard. And so I found myself at the local Weight Watchers meeting.  That day a member received their Life Time award.  I told myself I would do that.  And I DID.

It was a slow journey. One that took a year. Over the course of that year I learned many things about myself.

 I learned that I didn't eat vegetables.

I learned that I ate when my kids ate (which isn't a good thing when you have two toddlers).

 I learned that I used cheese in everything.

 I learned that I was a compulsive eater.  

I learned that I liked fresh veggies.

I learned to control my portions.

I learned to say NO to foods that I truly didn't like.

 I learned that it was okay to throw away the leftover cake.

I learned that I liked to walk and to exercise.

I even learned that I liked to go to the gym. 

 I learned to change my mind set.

I learned to eat to live, not live to eat.

After two months I had lost almost 16 pounds. My clothes were fitting better and I had more energy but I still had a long way to go.

This is after 16 pounds were gone.

After a year I had reached my goal. I had lost 78 pounds and felt fabulous. I got my Life Time membership and I maintained my weight for three months. Then I became pregnant with our third child. Some of the weight came back but I made it back to goal after he was born. 





 

This is a journey that did not end there. Over the last year I have fluctuated in my weight. I became indifferent, lazy, and I gave in to the temptation of food again. I gained back 30 pounds and now am back at Weight Watchers. I am back down 16 pounds. The journey will not end here. This journey is a choice that I have to make everyday. It is the choice to be healthy. It is the choice to be happy with who I am. It is the choice to be me.  This journey does not define me, I define it.  I choose the steps that I take down this path, I choose the steps that I may take backwards.  But it is MY journey and I am in control.  I do not let the path direct my course, I choose the course of my path.