The Importance of Acknowledging Your Accomplishments

Now that the holidays are behind us and we are a solid week into the new year, it's only natural we are likely taking stock of where we want this year to go.  The flip of the calendar feels like a fresh start though every day we wake up is actually a fresh start.  We don't need a milestone day to be better than who we were yesterday.  We traveled this year for the holidays and just got home a few days ago.  We're still settling back into what it's like to be back home and reminiscing over the past few weeks.  It was the right move for us this year given all we'd lost, and other health issues are going on that just would've been too much to be around this Christmas.  I needed a soul cleansing type of holiday, and we knew where to go to potentially get it.  I will get into our trip in another post.

As we return with a little more dough in the middle than when we left, it is tempting to feel defeated.  We all tend to have that bit of holiday overindulgence regret, but when you travel, sometimes you could give a rat's butt about trying to "be good."  But after our trip to Maine in May, we had quite the struggle getting off our weight gain for many months.  We even added walking two miles in the morning before doing anything else to the agenda in addition to our workouts, but it did nothing.  That was particularly frustrating given we did so in blazing summer heat and humidity and would come back sweaty and disgusting by 8am.  Now we're faced with doing it in super cold weather and bundled up like Randy from A Christmas Story.

When you've been on a weight loss "adventure" for almost 10 years with more to go, it's embarrassing and defeating to admit.  If you'd told me 10 years ago that I wouldn't be anywhere near my "goal" weight, I probably would've said, "then why bother?"  If I'd told myself I'd lose so much weight only to let some creep back on, I probably would've said you were nuts because I worked too hard to get it off in the first place.  That just creates a cycle of a negative spiral that is hard to get out of or motivate yourself.

That is the time you need to acknowledge your accomplishments.

I have consistently kept off the 200 lbs I lost for 7 1/2 years.  That is not the norm.  We all hear the stats of  "95% of people who lose a significant amount will regain the weight within one to five years."  I love giving a big eff you to the establishment, so I am proud of that.

I consistently exercise 6x per week when I'm home.  Now on vacation, I suck.  I'll admit it, and we both agree we need to do better.  But at home, I have exercised through colds, migraines, injuries from major to minor even when I was pulled off of weight-bearing exercise, and just plain not wanting to do it.  I've also overtrained and paid for it and pushed through pain when I shouldn't have.  I'm still learning.

We eat healthy 6x per week.  Sometimes we track, sometimes we don't because we know what our meals typically are calorie-wise.  Unfortunately, our age has caught up to us, and we'll need to reevaluate our Saturdays, but I'm still proud of us for not giving in to ordering a pizza or going through a drive through just because it would be easier than making a healthy meal on a Wednesday.

We've gone as natural as we can.  As I began to do more research over the past 5-8 years about the chemicals in our everyday products, I started switching over to naturally derived items.  Some of it was due to my allergies where harsh detergents would break me out or make me sneeze.  But I also know now that those products that used to be fine were getting more pumped up in the chemical department too.  From makeup to detergents to cleaners to cleansers, it all changed.  That's not to say that you can't have a reaction to natural products too, but at least there aren't a ton of endocrine disruptors and other nasty crap.

These things have all contributed to us having perfect health when the docs run the numbers.  I love seeing their faces when they get normal blood panels and pressure readings...makes me want to raise a finger.

If it's important to me, I will make tweaking things a priority and I need it to be important since my body is going to start fighting me.  So yes, we've got some work to do, but I need to remember that I'm not a failure just because I'm not at goal.

What are your healthy accomplishments and where do you want to go from here?

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