Thursday, October 28, 2010

Weigh-in day 21!

Hello again friends! I suppose a month between posts is long enough. Let me start with my weight today - 195.0. That is down 0.5 pounds since one month ago - which isn't much. BUT, it includes the stress of moving (eating whatever was handy and open at 10pm), going on a vacation where I ate every bad thing in sight, and not doing a SINGLE bit of working out. In fact, not doing much to purposefully lose weight at all. To date, I have still lost 32.4 pounds. So absolutely nothing to complain about on my end.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what the last year has held for me. Last year at this time, I was working a maximum of 10 hours a week. For some people, this is a vacation, but for me it equates to a deep level of hell. I was about 27 pounds heavier, bored, depressed, lonely, completely miserable with myself and almost convinced that life out of college basically sucked and would continue to suck.
Now, let's look at where I'm at today. I work 4 jobs - best estimate is about 50 hours a week. I have at least one gig almost every weekend - once I had 3 in one weekend. I'm a semi-finalist in a young artist competition in December. I played in the Dogwood Arts Festival. I teach over 20 students a week who I love to watch learn and grow. Teaching them actually helps me become a better musician. I am a trainer at my restaurant and I helped designed the training manual which I hope will be in place long after I leave. And my church job is super willing to work with my schedule and is always happy to have me. I'm a size 14 instead of a size 18. I have my own house which I can't wait to go home to every day. I have an incredibly sweet and supportive boyfriend who puts up with me when I'm grumpy and constantly tells me I'm beautiful even when I'm in sweatpants. I've made friends who I know will always be there for me and I'm rarely wanting for something to do. I have to say - I'm pretty damn impressed. I'm not saying that to be cocky - but recognizing success and personal achievements is super important and completely healthy. As I told my step-dad a few weeks ago (he's on a weight loss program, too) - every victory should be celebrated. Saying that you are proud of yourself and what you've accomplished is not selfish - it's smart. If you never recognize your own success, you won't be able to ever be happy with what you have.

Now, I didn't reach every goal I set for myself this year. I originally wanted to be about 20 pounds lighter at this time. I wanted to lose 40 pounds in a year and I didn't quite reach that goal. But that doesn't mean I don't have cause to celebrate. It certainly doesn't mean I haven't taken many steps to make my life healthier.

Theme for today: look at what you've done and pat yourself on the back for it. Even if it's small.

Soon to come: setting new goals for myself!

1 comment:

  1. You ARE beautiful, and life sounds like it's pretty damn amazing right now. Love you!

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