Finally An Update!

I haven’t blogged in a while, but I figured it was a good time for an update! Last March, I mentioned I had started on a journey toward weight loss after ballooning up to nearly 200 pounds. At my last update, I had lost 15 pounds in the first 50 days. The first half of the year went really well. I couldn’t afford to re-join the work gym during the 2^nd half, so my progress went a little more slowly. Overall, though, I ended up losing 32.6 pounds last year. It wasn’t quite as much as I had hoped, but I feel pretty good about it, especially considering I didn’t finish off the year on the best diet or with regular exercise. I can make many excuses for that, including having ended a long-term relationship in August, and consequently having an unstable living situation for a few months. But life is going to happen and I feel like I need to learn to roll with those punches.

I have re-joined my work gym and begun the process again. I am starting at 165.2 pounds this year, and my ultimate goal is to get back down to my normal 135 pound frame, but ideally feel stronger and fitter than I have ever been before. I definitely feel like if I was able to lose almost 33 pounds last year, there’s no reason why I can’t shake the rest of this weight. Maybe literally, shake it off. :D

I actually feel really positive about this coming year. I think I was apathetically depressed for a long time over the past few years, and sometime last year I finally “woke up” and decided I needed a real change. It took me a while to take any real sort of action, and I think my living situation definitely slowed down some major progress, but I believe I made the right decisions for myself and I can only see things going up from here.

One other change I am definitely committed to is becoming debt free. I have stopped using credit cards, put myself on a realistic, semi-strict budget, and I’m slowly trying to chip away at those balances. I know it will take a while, especially when I think about my gargantuan student loan, but in the end, it’s going to be worth it. I just have to keep my eye on that prize instead of letting myself feel overwhelmed or hopeless. In the meantime, I have a nice new apartment and a wonderful man to help me along on my journeys, and I finally feel good about the direction my future is headed. It’s a nice feeling to have after holding myself down for so long.