It's been 10 years (almost to the day) since I last posted. Where has the time gone? No matter, I am here and ready to begin again.......and finish what I started 15 years ago. Originally, I began this journey in March of 2005 and was successful at losing about 42 lbs. My original journal was "Lesli's Live Long and Strong WISH Journal." and I was doing well and feeling great! Then life threw me a curveball when I had a very bad car accident which took well over a year to regain enough energy and strength to begin taking off the weight that had crept back on. So I started again with a new journal in 2007 called "Lesli's Changing Life at 40" which I kept going for about 3 years. It was definitely more challenging to get back to where I had been prior to the accident (and still wasn't at goal weight) and I think partially it took a toll on my psyche learning to accept that it was ok for things to take longer to readjust. Over the last 10 years, life has been full of stress for many reasons (good and bad) and focusing all of my energy on everyone and everything else but me. Not taking that time to care for myself has lead to weight gain beyond what I thought I would ever see and that too has played with the emotions. The good news is that I know I can fix it. I have done it before and no reason why I cannot do it again, even at 53. In fact, more of a reason to make my health a priority again. This time is to finish what I started. This time is for finding myself again!
For those who don't know me (hopefully there are a few of my WISH buddies still out there), I am a mother of 4: DD32, DD30, DD22, & DS17; with a DH who works way too much, but is supportive; and I'm a Mormor (grandmother) to 2 little ones. I do most of my work from home for our business (pros and cons), did ALOT of volunteer work until COVID-19 (now rethinking my focus), still trying to finish updates to our home, and plan to work on a new business venture soon, plus still have one kid to get through school. Definitely, a time when I need to get a good routine going to keep the sanity and to achieve my goals.
Currently, I weigh 255.8 lbs and plan to get to 150 as my overall goal weight. Looking back, on my first journey, I had gotten down to 186 just before the accident. My heaviest had been 230 which I had planned to never reach again. That started the second journey when I was 224.5 lbs so that I could avoid that reaching that high, but never made it back to Onederland although I did lose some. I have gone through all of the pain and guilt over the last few years as I watched the lbs mark new highs. Sometimes I was able to get down 10 pounds, but I didn't make it a true priority (because I put everything and everyone first), so it would creep back and then some. My overall highest was 264, not that long ago. I know that I can maintain weight for a long period of time. It's the lack of taking care of myself first when times get overly stressed that throw things off for me and add the weight (which I then maintain again, crazy I know). So to get back to a healthier me, I have to go through rediscovering who I am again.
The best choice I made on the first journey was to maintain my WISH journal. It keeps me accountable and allows for some time to reflect.
Currently, my goals are:
1. Lose 60 lbs by year end
2. Increase my water intake
3. Make conscious food choices
3. Increase my exercise
It's time to rediscover me!
For those who don't know me (hopefully there are a few of my WISH buddies still out there), I am a mother of 4: DD32, DD30, DD22, & DS17; with a DH who works way too much, but is supportive; and I'm a Mormor (grandmother) to 2 little ones. I do most of my work from home for our business (pros and cons), did ALOT of volunteer work until COVID-19 (now rethinking my focus), still trying to finish updates to our home, and plan to work on a new business venture soon, plus still have one kid to get through school. Definitely, a time when I need to get a good routine going to keep the sanity and to achieve my goals.
Currently, I weigh 255.8 lbs and plan to get to 150 as my overall goal weight. Looking back, on my first journey, I had gotten down to 186 just before the accident. My heaviest had been 230 which I had planned to never reach again. That started the second journey when I was 224.5 lbs so that I could avoid that reaching that high, but never made it back to Onederland although I did lose some. I have gone through all of the pain and guilt over the last few years as I watched the lbs mark new highs. Sometimes I was able to get down 10 pounds, but I didn't make it a true priority (because I put everything and everyone first), so it would creep back and then some. My overall highest was 264, not that long ago. I know that I can maintain weight for a long period of time. It's the lack of taking care of myself first when times get overly stressed that throw things off for me and add the weight (which I then maintain again, crazy I know). So to get back to a healthier me, I have to go through rediscovering who I am again.
The best choice I made on the first journey was to maintain my WISH journal. It keeps me accountable and allows for some time to reflect.
Currently, my goals are:
1. Lose 60 lbs by year end
2. Increase my water intake
3. Make conscious food choices
3. Increase my exercise
It's time to rediscover me!