12/03/17 – 12/09/17 Days 263-269

12/03/17 through 12/09/17

This past week has been a very different week than any week since March 15, 2017. On that week in March, I decided to radically change my health, no matter what. I drew a line in the sand, once and for all.

On that day, I weighed 298 pounds, down from my “high water mark” of 304 pounds in early March. Then I publicly committed to losing a total of 129 to get to 175 pounds before 11/22/17. On 11/17/17,  I reached that destination weight of 175 pounds. Everyday I posted my progress, the seemingly slow process of shedding a total of 129 pounds in 248 days.

This week my wife Angie and I visited our oldest son Blake in Denver. We had a great time catching up with him. What goes along with family and friends is normally sharing a meal or meals. Especially in a city like Denver, the choices seem endless.

I have traveled during the weight loss phase of my journey, but this was my first trip since hitting my destination weight of 175 pounds. I prefer to stay between 175 to 179 pounds. It’s pretty challenging to stay exactly 175 pounds every day, and I am happy with 175-179 pounds.

I have been transitioning my eating, allowing myself foods that I avoided while losing my weight. But the trip to Denver, from an eating perspective, was like going into enemy territory. There was every kind of food that you could imagine in a city the size of Denver, and in the past, this would have started a spiral of overeating that would have resulted in me inching up in my weight, saying that “I am still thin enough.” Never again will I allow myself to move in that direction.

Life is too precious to sell out for another bite of food.

I did partake in moderation of several foods that I haven’t had in a while.

Nachos

Pizza

Beer

Doughnuts

Mozzarella Sticks

Pimento cheese Dip

Chicken Wings

I’m probably leaving something out, but I hope you get the picture. I wasn’t watching everything that I ate. But I spent more time enjoying my family than focusing on what I would eat.

Yes I carried my scales on the trip and weighed every day. I knew that I would post the results today. That accountability is strong. I am choosing to remain open as I walk out this journey of permanent weight loss and optimal health.

As you can see, I am already back to the weight that I was before going to Denver.

I have been told by several people that I really trust, who personally have either lost a large amount of weight and kept it off for years or have overcome a battle with an addictive behavior. They are all in agreement that maintaining my weight loss is the hardest part of the journey. It seems that once I arrived, I could check it off my bucket list and eat what I want whenever I want. That’s just not really possible, while I called my goal weight my destination weight, it’s no longer a goal but it is a destination.

Maintaining a healthy, “best that I can be” health is a journey that will never end. We all have to fight for the life that we desire everyday.

I wish that I could just “set it and forget it” like a kitchen appliance, but that’s what led me to 304 pounds and morbid obesity.

I became intentional about my health this year and I don’t have weight loss even listed as a goal for 2018, but being the healthiest Alan possible is a goal that I will have forever.

To live life to the full, we have to be intentional, not obsessed. But if I ignore my health, finances, relationships, family, my mind, career, or my spiritual growth. I will certainly drift. It’s as though we are all out in the waves just “being” and the undertow slowly drifts us. It’s usually not that noticeable but before you know it you have moved off course, down the coastline to a place that you never intended to go.

While I have immense respect for my friends that tell me staying at my healthy weight is the greatest challenge, I disagree.

The hardest part is facing where you are when things seem hopeless and doing something about it. The starting point. The moment in time that you decide and take action, that’s the hardest part.

Wherever you are in whatever has happened to you, take responsibility for what you can control and start.

Those things that are beyond your control, well they are not for you to handle, only what you can control.

Start.

It may feel uncomfortable and scary at first but….