- Today is my 16-month anniversary since my change to a healthy lifestyle. I have now lost a total of 135.3 pounds so far! I am now just 89.7 pounds away from my goal weight! Whoo hoo!
- My husband and I recently celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary! He is a 10-foot-tall superhero in my eyes, and I am so thankful God chose to give us to one another!
- I just finished another one of my college courses in working on my psychology degree and have spent the last several weeks doing a considerable bit of paper writing. This class was called "Addictive Disorders" and although it focused primarily on substance use and abuse (such as drugs and alcohol, etc.), so much of the class was applicable to food addictions as well. It provided a great deal of new insight to me in this area. The countdown is on...I've only got 7 classes left until graduation!
- A few months into my weight loss journey, I felt like God wanted me to share my story and to help encourage other people along the way. One way I've done that is through this blog. Another way has been through a class I've developed called "Reflections: Healthy and Beautiful from the Inside Out". While I'm not a dietician or medical professional, I am a pastor, and as such, I've been given the opportunity through my church to present my class in an 8-week small group format. We're going into Week 4 tomorrow night, and it has been a joy to speak to the women who have attended about spiritual, emotional, and practical issues regarding healthy living!
- Without going into the details...our family experienced a terrible tragedy in the loss of my brother-in-law in a fatal car accident a couple of weeks ago, and my husband and I and our boys had to take an unexpected road trip to Texas for the funeral, covering over 2,000 miles in 5 days. Along the way, we saw two major accidents on the interstate (one even had a life flight helicopter land on the highway to help out). It was a rollercoaster of emotions as we prayed for those involved in those accidents, were grieving our loss, and were thankful for our own safe travels.
Through all of these events, along with many more, such as me continuing to work 40+ hours a week at the investment firm with almost 2 hours a day spent commuting back and forth, teaching a Bible School course on Ethics in Ministry, being out of town for 5 days on our annual pastor's retreat, being sick for two weeks, and keeping up with our kids, I've continued to carve out time to work out and have maintained healthy eating and kept losing weight through it all.
I guess that's the difference between a "diet" and a "lifestyle change" isn't it? Diets are temporary. They require strict adherence to work right, and typically have little to no flexibility. When extraordinary life events pop up, diets can be thrown for a loop. Making a lifestyle change, however, means learning how to make healthy choices and stick to your commitment, no matter the circumstances or situations you find yourself facing or how busy or hectic your schedule may become.
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