Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Choosing to take a step

It's not always an easy road to weight loss, but it is a road that can be traveled. Sometimes it's long, sometimes it's short, but it's there for you whenever you choose to take it.

I wrote this on someone's wall today at sparkpeople and it just made me think about my first step. My first step was over a year ago when I started trying to eat healthier. I was trying to cut out so many sweets. I was trying to control my portion sizes and I was trying to find an easy way to get healthy. It wasn't working. Then my dad, who was pre-diabetic was no longer pre-diabetic. He was diabetic, plain and simple. Everyone in my immediate family, including me, was overweight. I knew if I didn't start doing something, anything, my life would be shortened because of my excess weight and all the extra pressure I would be putting on my body.

I had been reading the blog escapefromobesity.blogspot.com and she was doing such amazing things in her life. She said she came to sparkpeople sometimes to track calories, so I came to check it out. That day my life changed.

To date I have lost almost 25 lbs. In 0.2 lbs. I will be halfway to my goal. I started running. Yesterday I ran 4.25 miles and it felt amazing. My clothes fit better, I'm happier, my self-esteem is better and I have more energy. This is happening in my life because I took that first step.

There are people out there that never take their first step. They know that they need it. They know that their lives will improve exponentially if they just make one change for their healthy, but they never do. Some are scared. Some think it's impossible. Some just don't know where to start.

To those who are scared, I pray you find courage. If it's courage within yourself, that's amazing, but often courage within someone else who can help you on this journey is just as good. Read, do research and learn that you can do this. Set a goal for five pounds. Set a goal to work out ten minutes a day. Set a goal to cut down your portion size. Set any goal that you can reach and that's related to your health and reach for it. You will meet it. That first success can propel you down the road to thousands of other small successes. One goal on top of another is all it takes to lose 25 lbs. Trust me. I know.

To those who think it's impossible. If you feel like you have too much to lose, too far to go and not enough time to do it in think again. If you lose one pound that means you are one pound lighter than you were. That's less stress on your body and one more pound to your goal. You will never know unless you try. You will never succeed unless you try. You will stay the same unless you try. Just keep in mind, our bodies are amazing things. There are things are bodies do that we cannot even comprehend. We can create life for goodness sake! Give your body a chance to prove to you what it can do. Few things in life are impossible. Sometimes they're just a tad difficult.

If you don't know where to start, you can do some reading online, ask a doctor for advice or question a friend who has lost some weight. There are a million places to start and most of them aren't wrong. You can start by exercise. You can start by eating more fruits and vegetables, you can start by portion control. The important thing is to start.

Once that first step is taken, things can begin to happen. Your life can begin to change. I know because mine has. If I don't lose another pound my life will have changed. I will lose another pound though. I'm geared up for it and my body isn't ready to say "No, this is a good weight now." My mind isn't ready to quit either. For me this is a life journey. I lost part of who I thought I was. I found part of me I never knew existed. And all because I took that first step.

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