Losing Weight......again

I miss that girl in the picture. She had so much energy and was full of life.

Weight loss has been an up and down battle since I graduated from high school. I thought in 2012 it would be my last year of dealing with that issue. I made myself a priority that year. Weight Watchers meetings were attended regularly. I made the time to get a 3 mile walk in daily, even when I had to get up at 5 am to make sure it would be done. Races became a family activity on many weekends and I had more energy then I knew what to do with.

Sadly, I started to let things slip over the course of 2013. It started very innocent at first. My water intake started to not be a priority to me. I would slack on attending meetings until I stopped all together. A few months went by and I was heading into the holidays. I started saying "I will start again on....." and that was the end of it. I spent the last year eating back up to 249 lbs.

YES! I just told you my weight. Why? Well I want to take the time to share some of this progress with you. I want others to see where I am going and how I am getting there. My other goal is that maybe, just maybe someone will decide that THEY need to be a priority in their life. You don't have to make huge changes. A small change is better than no change at all.

I will admit that those changes can be difficult to navigate. We live in a world of eat this and not that, avoid carbs, avoid sugars, eat only organic, blah blah blah, it can be discouraging to those of us who are trying to do the right thing. I am here to tell you that the only "right way" to lose weight is the way that works for you. That is why I am starting back with Weight Watchers. This may not work for everyone, but for me I enjoy the freedom of eating pizza and not feeling guilty. I just have to record the food, try to keep the points in line for the day, and move on. I know many free programs are offered out there that have similar features, but I also need the human interaction the meetings offer in order to stay on track. I like the psychology of "free" fruits and vegetables as well. An apple still has calories but on the WW plan they have 0 points. This pushes you to make better choices because we all love free. Again, choose something that can be done for the rest of your life is going to be the key to weight loss and maintenance.

In a few months I will share where I am in terms of real numbers and what has been working and not working.  If I have encountered slip-ups, I plan on sharing those as well. I hope you will join me because "I will start again on....." can be now.

Big Spoon!

Through out the years I have been to wedding showers, graduation parties and baby showers. During

these events one thing remains the same, giving sage advise to the person entering a new stage of life. I always offer the same story that has helped keep my marriage strong and adds a bit of humor to our life. Let me share with you the Big Spoon Issue story that inspired a whole new way I communicate with my husband.

When my husband and I were first living together things were all smiles and sweet talk. You know, the newlywed stage, where everything is cute and nothing could ever be wrong. This faded and the little things that I couldn't see before started to bug me. One day I was loading the dishwasher and found a large serving style spoon in the sink. I was very annoyed by this and even more annoyed that it bothered me. I fully understood that it was not a big deal and I should move on, but I just couldn't. I decided that I needed to express this annoyance. I took a deep breath and asked to share something with my husband.

I made sure to choose my words carefully because this little nothing could become a big something if the wording was not correct. Explaining that I fully understood that this was not something I should be upset about but I was still upset helped my husband understand I was not attacking him for his actions. I went on to explain that using the big spoon bugged me because it was a serving spoon for when we have company. As the words left my mouth I heard how crazy I sounded. I acknowledged that a spoon is to be used and the reasoning does not matter .

When I was done expressing my issue I was surprised that I felt better about the use of the spoon. It was no longer a huge issue for me and I felt a little silly for it bothering me in the first place. It also felt good that someone else understood my annoyance to the item, even if he didn't understand the why.

I share this story because so often we fight with those close to us because these little annoyances are not acknowledged. They are left to fester and build until we become a pressure cooker of little issues. We blow up at the person and let all the things that have been building up hit the person with one large blow. The chance to sit back and think about what is bothering us has left and we are in a state of now, no longer able to have perspective.

The Big Spoon has now become code words in our home. It is a way for us to express that we are annoyed with something. Whatever it is that we are annoyed with is acknowledged to be a non-issue item but an annoyance that we would like changed if possible. Letting the other person know you are bothered but fully understand that it is not a life or death situation has allowed us to laugh at items that may have never been discussed.