The Purpose:
- To hold me accountable
- To record my progress
- To keep track of how I go about get healthier (and looking good in a dress)
- To learn from mistakes along the way
- To learn from successes along the way
- To vent my frustrations
- To shout to the world my triumphs
- To see my progress in pictures (I found that to be the most startling when looking at pictures from even a year ago compared to picture of me now)
- To motivate me
- To keep me honest
The Content: What you'll see here
- Lots of pictures
- Journal type entries recounting what I've done in a week (e.g. activities, food, thoughts and emotions)
- Funny anecdotes (I love to laugh at myself and I have the feeling that it will happen a lot in this)
- Honesty (sometimes brutally so)
- Links to websites or articles I find interesting
A little about me:
In my previous post I mentioned briefly a drastic life change that occurred a little over 18 months ago, which for everyone who knows me knows that I was referring to joining the Peace Corps and moving my life for 27 months to a foreign country. This experience has been life changing in so many ways mentally, emotionally and physically.
In some ways I have gained a lot of confidence and acceptance in who I am, partly due to losing weight, but mostly due to pushing my personal boundaries and having to let go of my preconceptions about EVERYTHING. I've learned when to step back and let others lead the way and when I can step forward. I've also learned to put trust in people who I have only known for a short period (kind of comes with the territory when you are surrounded by nothing familiar). I think this of everything I've learned here has helped give me confidence because in putting myself in the hands of others somehow I've also let go of needing to have everyone like and accept me. Its ok if someone doesn't love everything about me and its ok if I don't love everything about someone else. Also, people are not always gonna be happy or agree with something I think, say, do or write...and guess what, that's ok too! We can still be friends and not agree. While I realize this is not an earth shattering revelation and I'm sure that there are many people in the world who already know this, it was new for me to actually believe it for myself. With this new found "I don't care what you think of me" attitude, I give you the facts that I have not shared with people because I was too self conscious and didn't want to admit it.
One thing I've noticed over the years while attempting to lose weight is that in so many ways its all about The Numbers. How many pounds do you weigh? What is your BMI number? How many inches is your bustline? your hips? your waist? How many inches have you lost/gained? How many pounds have you lost/gained? How many calories are you eating in a day? how many grams of fat, protein, carbohydrates are in that one itty bitty bite? How many minutes/hours per week are you exercising? How many repetitions can you do? You get the idea.
Well, in my spirit of honesty, here are some of my numbers:
Weight when I left America (June 2009): 372 lbs (the largest I've ever been)
Clothing size when I left America (June 2009): size 30
Weight now (January 2011): 290lbs (up a little from my lowest weight here of 281 lbs)
Clothing size now (January 2011): size 22
Weight loss to date: 82lbs
Clothing size loss to date: 4 sizes
Goal weight by the time I leave in July 2011: 245lbs
Goal clothing size by the time I leave in July 2011: size 18
There you have it. Check out the next post-its my photographic evolution for the last 4 years.
I love you rockstar, you're doing AWESOME! I'm counting down the days until I see you! :) ~Sam
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