First of all, the 19th was mine and my husband’s anniversary. It was a good one and I am excited for many more! We had a gift card to Olive Garden but we didn’t end up eating there. Right as we got there and walked in, the power went out! I was actually surprised to see my reaction was laughter about the situation. All the restaurants and stores in that area had a power outage too, so we just decided on a whim to head for another town close by and try an Italian restaurant we had been dying to try for the first time. Right as we got into the restaurant, we found out the power in Olive Garden had JUST come back on. It seemed like fate to me. The other restaurant, called Antipasta’s was awesome, had delicious food and ended up being cheaper than Olive Garden would have been (without a gift card) so it was well worth the drive.
Yesterday was the first day of my new healthier life. It was hard but I feel like I have got this new found motivation I didn’t even think I had in me. Between meals, me and my husband went to play Mini Golf (which I hadn’t played in years). It was so much fun, but I am thankful there were benches nearby and we brought big bottles of water with us! After bending down so much to get the ball, my back was yelling at me and I was feeling really out of shape. I think more than fatigue, I just had to rest frequently due to feeling faint and my hands shaking, which I KNOW had to be due to blood sugar. I am NOT diabetic at the moment, I just had blood work done last week, but it runs in my family and my dad is hypoglycemic so I think I might have to figure out exactly HOW to best eat to keep my blood sugar from getting too low, you know? Before, unless I went hours without eating, it was never much of an issue because I was eating a lot of carbs that were probably fueling me with bad glucose? Now I am eating more fruits and veggies versus bread and pasta, but maybe I am not getting enough. This is kind of new to me, so I think I am just going to have to again, take it day by day and figure it out.
Yesterday as I was eating fat free yogurt for breakfast and not exactly digging it, I started to say something positive I wanted before each bite. For example, “I want to be healthier”, “I want to feel better”, etc. and before you know it, I was finished and found a LOT of inspiration for losing weight. I have decided to make short term goals and long term goals to aspire to. My first short term goal is to lose 50 pounds by Christmas but my real incentive there is to fit into my dress I wore for engagement pictures by Christmas. I was about 50 pounds lighter then and I would really love to fit that dress again! So now I have a pound goal but also a visual goal to aspire to and I really feel like it is certainly possible!
My first long term goal doesn’t have a “pounds” attached to it, but it’s something I want to accomplish by May. A couple years ago, when my niece Sara graduated, I was unable to sit further down in the stadium with the rest of my family because my butt was too big for the chairs. Therefore, me and my husband sat at the top in folding chairs. It really made me sad, though I just laughed it off about “my big butt”. This May, my niece Grace will be graduating high school at the same place and I want so badly to sit with my family this time. I’m tired of having to find somewhere to sit and sitting off by myself, feeling like a loner. I feel like I can also conceivably make this goal and I can already see the excitement on my face when I get there!
On another note, I am suspending my “12 in ’12” challenge because I feel like I already have one big challenge I am committing to, that is frankly, a lifetime challenge. Having a thyroid disorder means even after losing all the weight, I will STILL have to stick to a healthy lifestyle to avoid going back. I have lost a good bit before and I gave up when I got stuck….and now I am right back where I was and then some. I don’t want to go down the same path again. I have added two weight loss tickers on the side of my blog, one with my short term goal and one to just show my progress throughout my whole journey. I will keep updating you at least once a week and I already appreciate all the tips, advice, support and kind words that have come my way!