Weight Loss Blog #2

Hello. My name is Michael. Some people call me Mike, and I'd be okay with that. Since the last time I wrote on Vocal I have met my first goal of dropping below 300 pounds. I could no longer say I was over 300 pounds. The next time I get my state ID, I will confidently and proudly say what my actual weight happens to be at that time. The reason I did not say driver's license is because I do not have one. Long story and also a story for … another time.

The second goal after that was reaching 285 pounds. For about 2 weeks or so I was stalling at around 288. I count calories to make sure I eat no more than a certain amount. It was weird because I could have sworn I was counting the calories correctly. Sometimes I knew I was eating more than I knew I should have, but I still thought I was doing enough exercise to balance it out. Okay, that's a lie. I had no idea if the workouts were negating the calorie input.

Still, the calorie counting and working out was what was working for me for the past 6, now 7, months … when I stuck to it. There was no reason to stray from the path that got me this far. Feeling frustrated when trying to lose weight is natural. I've felt like that before and given up shortly after, but this time was different. Channeling that frustration or anger, in some cases, into motivation will help you get through just about anything. It may be more or less difficult for others but anything worth doing is rarely easy.

As of today, I am 284.6 pounds. I have lost 60 pounds. When I started, my waist was 56 inches. Currently, my waist is 49 inches. I feel accomplished. I now weigh slightly less than I did when I graduated high school. My next goal is to drop to 265. I know the last time I weighed 265 was more than 6 and a half years ago. It seems longer but I'm not quite sure why.

I think part of writing this blog is to kind of talk about my achievements out loud (despite it not really being talking). In a video from Ogie Shaw, a very informative and cool guy, he says to reward fitness. I think that by talking about it this way, I am rewarding myself because I am acknowledging my progress out loud and it helps keep me motivated. By the way, this is the link to a video of his that helped get me started on my weight loss journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K60xHx836T0 I watched his TED talk and it was really cool, informative, and helped me understand why I was having a hard time staying on track before this.

Losing weight is a difficult thing to do and is almost always easier said than done. To be honest, it’s a journey. Despite how it starts, the journey can always get harder or easier along the way. As long as when you reach your destination you are satisfied with the result, then it was all worth taking on the task. Honestly, the more weight you have to lose, the quicker the weight will come off. The main thing is to stay as on task as much as possible, otherwise it will take longer and sometimes more effort than is necessary on your part.

I hope to ultimately lose 100 pounds but I can't get ahead of myself. Losing any amount of weight is an accomplishment. If you struggle to lose any weight and you succeed, then you already accomplished a lot. Celebrate the victories, big and small.