Weight Watchers Anniversary

I have been cautioned by more sophisticated bloggers that no one reads blogs on Fridays. As a result, I've used that as an excuse to justify slacking off on Fridays (haha, and sometimes Thursdays as well) because I figure I might as well just write a post on Monday, when everyone is back at work, looking to procrastinate by reading a mildly entertaining blog.

However, I just realized that today, March 25th, marks my one year anniversary of joining Weight Watchers. One year ago, today, I impulsively decided to go to a Weight Watchers meeting. I bravely stepped on the scale (in heavy dress pants, no less) and started the journey that has brought me to where I am now--exactly 60 pounds lighter. I remember looking at the 240 number and wondering desperately how on earth I would ever reach a healthy weight of 150 pounds. I thought fleetingly that it might take an entire year or longer.

At the time, admitting that I had dug myself in a hole that might take a few years to dig myself out of depressed me. I was angry at myself for gaining so much weight that you couldn’t possibly lose in a short period of time. But my weight watcher leader said something that day that stuck with me. She said, “The year’s going to go by anyway. So you have two options—either you can start making changes now or you can start later. What’s it going to be?”

I made the decision, right then and there, to start my weight loss journey, so that, in a year, I would have made some progress. And I am happy to report that one year later, I am not in the same boat I was in last March. I’ve lost 60 pounds and I’ve taken great strides to making real life changes. In the past year, I ran a 5K, fit back into a size 12, and learned how to cook some healthy meals. I am not in the same place I was last March.

Of course, that is not to say that I have reached all of my goals. It seems fitting that on my year anniversary, I would recommit to Weight Watchers. The time is going to go by, whether I like it or not, so it’s up to me to decide to make changes and finally reach my goal of being a healthy weight by next March. I have exactly 30 pounds to lose, and there’s 52 weeks in a year. Even if I lose weight VERY slowly, I should hit 150 by next March.

So, in the spirit of recommitting, yesterday, for the first time in a while, I went to the gym and jogged on the treadmill. For some reason, I expected to start out where I was when I first started, walking at 3.5. But I surprised myself, by being able to jog at 5.0 mph (12 minute miles) for the majority of the 35 minutes. I even got up to 6.0 mph for a minute or two. My lungs felt fine, although my legs are definitely feeling the workout today. I have counted points for the last two days and stayed within my allotted 29 DPs.

I know I can do this. I just need to take it one day at a time.