Make A Decision

The purpose of this blog is to share with people what I've done and found to be successful in my healthy lifestyle journey.  That's right, not weight loss journey, but my healthy lifestyle journey. The weight loss was a result of changing to a healthier lifestyle.

Another purpose of this blog is for you to share you story.  Share what's worked for you, what hasn't worked, anything from advice, exercises, recipes...I would love for this to be a place where we can come for encouragement, ideas, practical advice and information.

I do not claim to be a health expert by any stretch of the imagination.  All I know is that I was 47 years old, and 40 pounds overweight; I didn't like the way I looked or felt, and I knew I had to take action.

Which leads me to the first thing that I had to do to get on the road to a healthy lifestyle.

Make A Decision

Yup that's it, the first thing I had to do was decide...decide that I wanted to get healthy and lose weight more than I wanted to eat everything that wasn't nailed down.  I don't know about you, but the older I get, the better food tastes, and the more I want to cook it AND eat it!!!  Having that attitude I was gaining weight at a rapid pace, and my clothes were letting me know it.  I'm here to tell you, that the clothes don't lie, I don't care what that scale says, the clothes tell you the truth, and the truth was I had gone from a teight (a tight 8 not quite a 10)  to a comfortable 10, and truth be told, the 10's had gotten tight.   I'm only 5 feet tall, so a size 12 really wasn't an option for me.

During all of this time that I was gaining weight (literally years) I would continually threaten to do something about it.  BUT, those pastries were tasting better and better, I was perfecting my chocolate cake recipe and honing my baking skills in general, not to mention I could fry up some catfish, greens and cornbread that would put a hurtin' on you! The bottom line was I liked the way food tasted much better than even the thought of exercise.

At my job we have a health coach that comes every week to check your weight and blood pressure.  I had been telling this woman that I was going to start eating better and exercise almost every week for two years, and had done absolutely nothing!  As my pastor says, until you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, you won't to anything to make a change.

I did get sick and tired of being sick and tired.  On July 8, 2013 I decided that I was ready to commit to changing my life for the better by eating right and exercising. What led me to this decision? Two things. During that time I was recovering from eye surgery that required me to stay face down 24/7 for 10 days.  I figured that if I had enough discipline to stay face down for 10 days, I could be disciplined to lose weight.  The other motivating factor was that I could not hide my stomach any more!  I would be taking a picture, and you know how especially when you're taking a picture you suck your stomach in, well with my stomach sucked in I still looked like I had a watermelon under my shirt!  Once at church, a little girl asked me if I had a baby in my tummy!  I couldn't  even be mad....I had to take action; and I did.  What did I do?   My sister calls it the Push the Plate Back & Exercise plan, my husband calls it the Moderation & Movement plan, or as I call it:  Put That Fork Down and Start Moving Around Plan!!!

I made a decision, put action to it and stuck to it.  That's it, that's all.  In 4 months, my eating habits have dramatically changed, I'm exercising 3-5 times a week and I've lost 22 pounds.

In the coming weeks I'll share what I did more specifically, I'll share recipes, tips and advice that have helped me along the way.

When did you decide to make that change? What did you do?  I would love to hear from you!
Or maybe you're that person that needs to make the decision...do it now, don't weight to be healthy, start today and change your life for the better!