I started this blog way back in 2013 and last posted in it almost 2 years ago. A lot has happened in my life during that time and I wasn't sure if I would ever come back to this blog...but today just felt like the day to make a comeback! :) After all, I've found some success and seem to have finally found my weight loss grove...so now, maybe, just maybe, I've got something to say that others might wanna hear. ;)
If you know me or you've read this blog, then you know my struggle with my weight has been a life-long battle. I've found some success...and I've had lots of failures. I came into this world weighing 9 pounds...pretty big for a newborn...but not if you consider I was about 3 weeks late. I guess I'm just a late bloomer. ;) Overall, I was normal size until I was about five or six years old...when adjectives to describe me might have been "chunky" or "husky" or "plump"...or even "healthy" (but not in a good way). There are some psychological reasons for that, I'm sure. A lot of changes were happening in my life around that time and food became my way of coping with those changes. It became my drug of choice if you will. I vividly remember the first time I recognized that food had an impact on my mood. I was about 17 years old or so and was really upset about something. I stopped at DQ for a Blizzard and a few bites in, suddenly felt calmer. However, I did not make the connection between that and my weight issues. It only fed the addiction and when I was upset, I began to turn to food even more to comfort me. My weight has fluctuated up and down for pretty much the rest of my life. I go in cycles of trying to lose weight, getting frustrated & giving up, swearing never to diet again...only to decide to give it one more go sometime later.
But here I am, five months into a new rhythm and finally finding a measure of success. It started innocently enough. A conversation with my mother about WW. She offered to pay for my initial start if I would give it another go (I've lost count of how many times I've tried WW and failed in the past). The conversation happened at just the right moment and I agreed. Deciding to strike while the iron was hot, so to speak, I asked my hubby if I could go ahead and sign up. He agreed...and so my journey began on August 27, 2018.
In addition to following the WW plan, I decided to get more consistent with using Plexus...and tried a few of their new products as well. I now take Metaburn and Edge every morning with my Plexus Slim drink. At night, I take the ProBio pill and when I eat a high-carb meal, I pop a couple pills of Block. I discovered this combo (WW & Plexus) is just the one-two-punch I need to be successful! I lost 10.4 pounds my first week and have consistently lost an average of 2-3 pounds per week since. Another factor has been the encouragement of others who are on the same journey and my own determination to get it done this time. The last time I was this successful, I had the encouragement of my cousin Kathy to push me along. She saw me at my then heaviest weight and, having successfully dealt with her own life-long weight battle, knew the struggle well. We started with exercise. She had recently given birth to her daughter, whom I adored. She invited me to take walks with the two of them. Since I loved spending time with my cousin and her daughter, I agreed. Then she started a weight loss group at our church and I joined that as well. I lost about 80 pounds or so...but when my cousin and her family moved, I lost my motivation. Slowly, the weight crept back on. I tried several times to lose the weight again, but without the motivation my successes were short-lived. My addiction to food was more powerful than my desire to lose weight.
But now, Kara's got her groove back! As of my weigh-in last week, I've lost a total of 48.4 pounds this time around. This past weekend, I was in Sam's club and happened to see a 48-pound bag of dog food (pictured above). Realizing that's almost the exact amount of pounds I'd lost to that point, I decided to pick it up and feel the weight I'd lost so far. MAN! That was one HEAVY bag of dog food...and I'd been carrying the equivalent of that weight around on my body for quite some time! No wonder I was tired all the time & found it hard to get off the couch to play with my kids! I've still got a long way to go...but realizing how much I've lost already and how much better I feel now, I can only imagine how much better I'm going to feel when I get a couple more of those bags worth of weight off! :)
All this to say that if you need to lose weight...whether you need to lose 10 pounds or 100, you CAN do this! I found some tools that really helped me find my groove...but none of them would have worked without my determination to make it work. I had to be ready. I wish I'd gotten ready years ago...but I can't go back and change that. I can only start from where I am and make the change going forward. It's not easy, and every day...shoot, sometimes every minute...I have to make choices about whether I'm going to let the addiction win or my desire to be healthy. Today, it's been my desire to be healthy. Tomorrow, I'll weigh in again and hopefully, I'll have hit that 50 pound mark I'm hoping for...if not, there's always next week. :)
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