20 Pounds of Weight Gone in 2015

At the beginning of 2015, as i had done for the previous decade of my life, I set a goal to lose weight. I wanted to lose 2 lbs a month. 24 lbs in a year doesn’t sound that difficult when you look at it like that. I worked on it half-heartedly and one month into the new year I weighed exactly the same as I had on the first day of January.

I attribute that to several things.

• While 24 lbs seems like a big goal, my brain was wrapped around the simple 2 lbs a month number. It didn’t seem like the sort of goal that would require much work on my part. Right? It’s only a half pound a week. That’s nothing! in my head, I was pretty sure I could knock off those 2 lbs in the last week of each month.
• I had mostly been able to avoid really seeing the difference those pounds had made. I avoided seeing photos of myself or having them taken.
• My love for junk food was still greater than my desire to make a change.

In April I started a new diet and lost a respectable amount of weight. It was a pretty healthy way of eating, but honestly, it was more complicated than I was ready to stick with long-term. I lost 10 lbs and then I gained most of it back.

In June I turned 39.That’s when I found my sense of urgency. There was something about seeing the number “40” looming that kicked my butt in gear. I had heard about the Trim Healthy Mama Plan: The Easy-Does-It Approach to Vibrant Health and a Slim Waistline  eating plan from several friends and I decided to check the book out from our local library. This way of eating, in a nutshell, is to eliminate sugar and to not eat fat and carbohydrates together. So, it doesn’t eliminate carbs, but it does restrict them. I stuck to the plan about 75% of the time. I must admit that I didn’t follow all the rules perfectly. I’m okay with that. If your plan for being healthy doesn’t include room for grace real life, it’s going to crash and burn.

I started on August 9th. By the middle of November, I had lost 20 lbs.

Those two photos were taking one year apart at our annual Christmas party for Nathan’s office. That’s a 20 lbs difference and I feel a million times better about myself.

Now, after a week of Christmas indulgences, I’m ready to get back to eating healthy.

My goal for 2016 is to lose an additional 10 lbs by implementing some small sustainable changes:

• Keep my refined sugar intake low (I’m not eliminating it all together because that’s not real life for me).
• Use my cool, new vivosmart fitness band to increase my activity level.
• Pick one or two things a month to work on (meal planning, figuring a way to increase my vegetable intake, . . .)

You can follow along here if you like! I plan to write about my health journey here on Thursdays. A little accountability goes a long way for me. Knowing someone else is watching is a powerful motivator! Do you have any health goals for 2016?