Along this journey there have been goals that I set and goals that I happened upon that I didn’t know I would find. The most important goal I have reached, self-acceptance. How I reached it:

When I first made the decision for this lifestyle change, I just wanted to feel better, physically. I had a lot of back pain and fatigue. I let those things hold me back from daily activities. House chores were done with minimal effort, activities with the kids would fall to my husband because I couldn’t help with sports. I couldn’t run or last very long. Did I feel guilty? Of course. Then the circle of overeating would ensue. My first goal to myself was start eating to live, not eating for pleasure. That sounds weird, but sometimes we simply eat because it just tastes so good. Eating to live is eating for the sole purpose of giving your body food for nutrition. Don’t get me wrong, not an awful diet of plants and berries. Just a healthy balance of foods that will keep you from eating junk or big portions. I cut out all the fast food, salty snacks, convenience foods (ie pizza rolls, hot pockets and snack cakes) and small unhealthy things throughout the day. Did you know skipped meals hurts weight loss? Your body is a constant working machine. It needs to have the right foods to keep it from shutting down. I also learned to recognize when my body is actually hungry.  Now that my first goal was planned, I needed to decide on exercise.

In my previous blogs I have mentioned my workouts. Of course at my heaviest weight I could only do a limited amount. I had goals in my mind of just week to week. When I first started if I made it through the first week, I was satisfied! I did it! After that is when I decided, I am going to do this for a year. My goal was to see what happened. The only limits I put on myself was I had to stick to the healthy diet and get in the gym every morning. It was simple. Not easy, but simple.

It was important for me to set goals for myself that were attainable.  I found putting a time goal in place instead of a certain amount of weight loss was easier to control, manage and keep to.  I didn’t have a reward set for the end, it was just something to reach for.  If I made my goal too hard, it would discourage me from sticking to it.

While I was on this journey reaching for the year mark, I learned a great amount about myself.  How much I enjoyed exercise and finding different foods.  It was almost like a scavenger hunt to find foods that I could eat or workouts that I wanted to try. Through trying all these new things whether it be food or fitness classes I was amazed at the changes I had already made.   It turned into something I wanted, not had to do.

When that year was up, even though I went through the entire year, I looked back and said, this is my life, this is how I want to be.  I couldn’t believe in one year I had lost 100lbs. I kept on the same trek, in the next six months another 50lbs gone.  I didn’t realize I carried that much weight, I would have never know to set a goal that high!  Myself personally, that daunting number would have scared me away the first day.

My next goal was just to take every day as it was.  No more living in the past.  Every weight loss plan that I failed at was done.  I didn’t have to do them again because I found what worked for me.  Am I considered skinny, I don’t know and don’t care.  I am who I am because I am happy this way.  Sure there are things I want to change, if they change great if not, I am not in any pain due to weight issues and I can pretty much do anything.

If you are looking to start a weigh loss journey, try setting goals that are fair to you.  Not easy, but something that you are happy to work toward.  We all know how difficult it is to follow something that’s not in our heart.  What matters most is you live every day happy with your progress.  Weight loss doesn’t have to be miserable.  Keep confidence in yourself to keep going.  As I said some goals I didn’t set for myself, they just naturally happen.  Often times I wouldn’t realize the milestone until after it happened.