Monday, April 13, 2015

100 Days

     When I think of 100 days, so much comes to mind. The fun 100 days of school where kids bring in various assortments of a hundred items like cereal or cars or pennies or whatever. I think of the book 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez, which I realize doesn't match the 100 DAYS bit, but it comes to mind.      So, it's been FOREVER and a day, or a couple HUNDRED, since I've last blogged. If we are being all technical about it...it's actually been 612 days, but WHO is counting--I honestly used one of those handy dandy online duration calculators, because YES, I really wanted to know :)
     For now, I just want to focus on the past year from April of 2014 until now. I can honestly say that last year was the MOST difficult year of my life. I faced more than what felt like my share of personal tragedies and challenges.
      During this year of tests, I did challenge myself to find the KIND and GOOD things in a world that felt like it could be absent of anything positive. I posted on my personal FB for 100 days in a row of "Kinder than Necessary" posts. And, thankfully, it did carry me through a pretty dark time.
     The past year wasn't all hard, and there were some INCREDIBLE high points. My youngest son and his soon-to-be wife both graduated from OSU with honors and degrees in Animal Science. They were both accepted to the SAME VETERINARY school--in Tennessee. Then my son married the love of his life (who we LOVE DEARLY--I feel so fortunate to have sons who have both chose beautiful soulmates). The wedding was PURE JOY! So beautiful and inspiring and such a celebration of TRUE LOVE.
     My baby sister had her first baby--my sweet little nephew! He was born on 12-13-14, and let me just tell you that he symbolizes such HOPE for our family. I also love the close bond it has regenerated with me and my sister and my parents.
     I was SUPER happy to KICK 2014 in the BUTT, as it went away. And, how incredibly ironic that the SICKEST I have ever been in my adult life was the last week of December of the crappiest year on record for me.
     To top things off, my health for sure took the backseat to life in general. Though I was trying to remain positive, I KNOW that all of the negative energy of 2014 manifested itself into a sick heart and mind and body.
     Yes, a new year can bring hope. Yes, we can make new resolutions. Yes, we can. For the first time in my entire relationship with Rick, I did not spend New Year's Eve with him. We had made plans with our grandchildren to go bowling--one of our family traditions--and, I was WAY TOO sick to go. I was seriously HEARTBROKEN and felt left out. Rick was wonderful; he knew how sad I was, and so he called me right at midnight (I was asleep finally), and he left such a sweet message. He came home and woke me up to wish me a HAPPY new year :)
     But, I will tell you. New Year's Eve was a night of intense soul searching for me. Super sick, fat, depressed, and feeling sorry for myself and all of the year's sad events, I just had the proverbial light bulb moment.
     I decided that #1 I was going to make ME a priority. I was going to focus on bringing the positive into my life. I was going to start saying NO to the things I really didn't want to do. And, BY GOLLY, 2015 was going to be MY YEAR!
     And, guess what? So far it has been :)
     TODAY is my 100th day of working out in a row. YES, that's consecutively. I don't even think I have ever worked out 100 days in a row in my entire life. The first week I started out at 20 minutes a day, and now I work out for at least 30 minutes, but many days I will even get an hour in! That's just cardio for now, but I am planning on getting a strength training program going soon.
     I AM SO FREAKING PROUD OF MYSELF! 100 DAYS!!!!!
     I also started using My Fitness Pal again, and YES, I've had 100 consecutive days of logging all of my calories and exercise. And, I only went over my calories on TWO days. TWO DAYS!
     I even LOST weight on our vacation last week. I lost a pound. But, I can say I have NEVER lost weight on vacation(another blog to come about that soon)!
     Keeping myself honest about what's going in my mouth has been VERY easy this time around, and quite satisfying actually.
     What are some of the benefits you may wonder? Well, I'm sleeping really well. Nothing hurts anymore. I have TONS more energy. I am WAY happier! I LOVE working out!!
     How about the weight benefit? So, on December 29th I weighed in at 267.8 pounds. THE MOST I HAVE EVER WEIGHED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!
     I currently weigh 234 pounds. I have lost 33.8 pounds so far! I was wearing a TIGHT size 22 and am now easily in size 18 pants. I was only wearing 2x and 3x shirts, and now I am wearing some of my xl shirts :)
     I feel GREAT!
     My goal is to lose a total of 100 pounds, and I am one-third of the way there! My smaller goals are to lose 10 pounds a month, which so far I have been hitting my target.
     I am living proof that 100 days can make some HUGE changes in your life. And, when you consider that I haven't blogged for 612 days...100 days doesn't even seem like that long. Start your 100 days TODAY! It's never too late to take care of you :)
     It's kind of cool that RIGHT now I weigh 19.2 pounds less than I did 612 days ago when I blogged last.
     I'm going to start blogging again more regularly. I have things to share about this journey, and I love writing! I have noticed the roller coaster of my blogs and the correlation to that of my weight. Gonna blog to my goal this time!

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