So, I started this journey at 144.4 pounds.  My goal weight is 128 pounds.  My non scale goal is more muscle than fat and some definition.  I have been doing my best to be faithful to the process while still living life.  I am trying to make changes that I could do forever since I am coming to accept that this is a life long journey.  There have already been some pretty great super-highs and some pretty rough super-lows.  I have done my best to stick with the process and the point through them all.  It’s hard, it’s draining and it can be rewarding!

I have managed in the last 6 weeks to lose just under 6 pounds and 8 inches. I know that this is great and sustainable progress. And that is what I tell myself when the going gets rough! It is also feeling SOOOOO slow! My original goal was to reach my goal weight by the time I went back to school for in-service on August 7th. That doesn’t seem likely given my other and more important goal of doing this without being on a “diet”. It is WAY more important that I model healthy, balanced eating for my girls. So, we have charts for ourselves counting how many fruits and vegetables and cups of water we have each day to give them ownership of their health and good things to add to what they eat. I have one too so that I can continue to focus on what actually matters most: treating my body like a temple, not getting this temple to look like this or fit into that (those are just nice side effects, I’m hoping for!!)

So, I’ve had to extend my date goal to my 40th birthday on September 6th. I continue to tweak things like lowering my daily calorie intake a couple of times in the My Fitness Pal app that I use. I am currently at the lowest calorie amount I will allow myself since these changes need to be sustainable. And I only lowered the calories after I felt that my body had adjusted to where the previous count. When I started tracking calories this time I was starving for 3-4 days. Then things seemed manageable and my weight wasn’t going down like I wanted it to. So, my accountability friend and I decided it would be best for me to stop entering my exercise into the app. That lowered my allowable calories by 100-200 calories. I felt like I was starving for another few days. I think that was due in part to being at training for most of those hungry days. Since I am choosing to “live life” through this process I ate the food that was provided. This meant that sometimes the food had more calories than fullness in it. Then, once I felt like I got good at managing that level of allowable calories, I increased the amount of weight I wanted to lose each week within the app. That brought me to my current allowable 1200 calories a day. This seems doable most days. Life still makes it harder some days than others! Such as when we take the girls out for donuts for breakfast. However, I also want to reach my goal weight!! I hope and pray that THEN maybe I can have a meal or even a day or two when I don’t enter everything I eat and I am still where I need to be health and weight wise.

Like I said earlier, I am coming to accept the truth that I know. There is no finish line and this is a forever journey (at least until my “new” body in heaven!!). Still, I do think it is a legitimate expectation that when I am maintaining there will be more wiggle room. However, for right now I try to keep everything pretty tied down. I do know I cannot handle going lower with my calories. So, if I plateau than I will have to pay closer attention to my macro counts to try to keep moving forward. I may add exercise if I find myself truly stuck, but that I also have to monitor that closely because I can only handle so much time commitment with my family’s schedules. Because I only have so few things left that I can change or moderate AND more importantly and wisely because slow weight loss is the longest lasting weight loss, I will continue to work to be content with my slow progress. I will also remind myself to thank God and rejoice because it is progress! I just read today from Kelsey at Hiitburn that we should focus on “progress not perfection”. I think that mentality matches up very well with this journey toward Jesus in this temple of His that He’s loaned me!

Thanks for reading! It helps me to type about it!!