My journey hasn't had near the ups and downs, but it hasn't been a free and clear path, either. I am just now climbing back after falling into my own Slough of Despond for a few weeks. I got into a cycle of eating too far above my calorie limit, and I couldn't break it. The scale gave me sort of a grace period for a while, but then it started showing gains. The past few days I have finally seen some progress. I'm still consuming more than 1500 calories, but I feel like I've got things under control. What I'm eating now is probably a maintenance level for the weight I am. I'm not losing but at least I've stopped the craziness with the food.
One thought I had today... when I feel like I'm taking too long to reach my goal, I have to remind myself that "slow and steady wins the race." When I get to the end of this year, and look back, if I've doubled my weight loss from last year, I'll be very happy. It won't matter that I did it slowly. It won't matter that I lost less than a pound a month. And I just love that mental image of butter sticks: there are four sticks in a pound box of butter. To lose the equivalent of eighty butter sticks would be a marvelous accomplishment for me. Let me restate that: To lose the equivalent of eighty butter sticks will be a marvelous accomplishment. I'll still have weight to lose, but twenty pounds will help my motivation to keep working at it.
*Hey, Daughter! I read your blog today and congratulations on your progress and accomplishments this past month! I'm very proud of you. - Mom
It truly is inspiring to watch the progress of others. This is a hard thing we're doing. When we see people we know accomplishing their goals it encourages us to keep going. Someday I hope to play a part in encouraging someone with "if I can do it, so can you."
