Final Weigh in Before My 1 Year "Anniversary"

Today was my final weigh in with my doc before my 1 year anniversary next month. I can't believe it's almost been a year already! It's been a good year though. I'm truly happy with my progress and my mindset through all of this. Heck, I'm 11 months in and I have yet to have a "gaining month." I thought for sure this month would be the first one!

I've been pretty open about the past month. I haven't had a good attitude. I'm not making excuses. I just chose not to be 100% in the game. I was sick from the end of September through most of October. That's pretty much when it started. I wanted comfort foods and struggled to find my way back to being fully committed again until now. With being sick I was out of karate, muay thai and stopped running. HA! Poor food choices, zero physical activity... I'm truly amazing I made it out the other side pretty much unscathed! Not that I didn't have to bust my butt once I decided to start putting effort in again.

I have to say that I love my doc! I went in there with my head hanging pretty low. I was petrified to stop on that scale. I couldn't remember exactly what my last weigh in was with them, and I didn't come here to check, so I was going in pretty blind. Imagine my surprise when I showed that I maintained my weight from last weigh in! WOOHOO!!! Not only that, but I lost almost an inch off my waist since last time too!

We discussed my life since I last visited him (just before I got sick in September) and what my home scale showed for fluctuations. He gave me a pat on the shoulder and told me he was proud of me for getting back on track and pulling out a loss in the end! He said with a lot of his patience he expects a gain from time to time and worries about how they will recover from it. I was pretty proud when he told me he really doesn't worry about that with me. Gains are expected. Life happens. He told me, "I just don't see you as the kind of person that gets knocked down and stays down." Thanks Doc!!

Obviously, though, I'm seeing him for a reason, so as much as I love that he has faith in me... I've managed to stay down in the past. I'm not sure what made it different this time, but any time I've gained the past 6-8 months, I haven't had any thoughts about quitting. I have in the past. I can't tell you the number of times I've said to myself that it would be so much easier to just quit. It's so hard. Why try so hard, only to fail? I might as well live a happy life being fat and eating what I want. Why keep punishing myself? I haven't had ANY of that mindset. Even over the past six weeks, I've found my way back to what I now consider my normal way of eating and my regular life - which is my healthier life. Eating crap for days at a time makes me feel miserable and I actually get sick of it quickly. Who knew?!?

But, the journey isn't finished yet. Heck, I'm not even to the half way point! I still have 15 pounds left to lose and THEN... I have to keep it off for two full years before the doc will release me from his care and consider me finished with his program. I'm still in the easy phase!

With that being said... I'm enjoying the new challenges I'm in this month! The first week is officially complete.

I've been finding time to get to the gym, or get a weight workout in at home. I've even run into some new workout buddies.

I don't know about all of you, but I often feel like they are judging me while they stare at me through my workout. Lately, they've been trying to join in. I think the fat cat was laughing at me though!

I finished strong though! I even talked myself into stepping back into the weight room on campus (I work at a college).

That's not an easy thing to do. I think I drove the average age up a solid 10 years the moment I stepped in the room. It's not often that I feel like the old lady, but I walked in, did my thing and got my workout done over lunch. I was pretty darn proud too! I even had a good week with food!!

I was so stinking excited to eat this salad yesterday! It did not disappoint either. I never, in a million years, would have ever thought I'd be excited to eat a salad!

My evenings have been absolutely insane, so I haven't been able to get back to the dojo to get any classes in. The Hubby and I both had to come to terms with not testing at the belt test next month. This is the first test we've missed since we started over two years ago. Again... life has just found a way to throw a wrench in our usual schedule. We aren't giving up though! The Hubby has even started back to his Beach Body workouts with our evening workouts being far more limited than usual. Ahhh the joys of being sore from a new form of exercise. There's been a lot of grunting in our house as we go up and down our stairs! HA!

So, with it being Tuesday, and I'm almost at the 1 year mark, I decided to wrap this up with a transformation Tuesday photo. I'm not only surprised by the change in my face, but check out how much my hair has grown in the last year! I have to thank collagen and daily vitamins for that one! It's never grown this fast!!

Here's to Week 2... I'm ready to kick it up a notch!!