Losing and gaining

After seeing all of the medical issues that both my mom and my dad have gone through during my life, I made a decision about a year ago to take better care of myself. I weened myself off of my pop habit, now I enjoy the ocassional glass but no longer use it as my only beverage of the day. I slowly began to swith out all of my white carb loves for whole versions of them, whole wheat pasta is delicious. I made an effort to try a new fruit of vegetable each month and give ones I previously did not like a try. By doing this I learned that I love asparagus and was right all along in my hate of peas.

I then began to exercise more. I began walking in the warmer months with some neighbors and volunteering to take dogs for walks during the day. I got some fun "Dancing with the Stars" exercise dvds and began to dance again, something I had done all the way through childhood and throughly missed.

In the span between February 2010 and this month I have lost a grand total of 35lbs. It might not seem like a large number but the biggest accomplishment is that I have been able to keep it off. Something that has never happened before. I did not believe how much weight I had lost until a good friend came over one night this week to borrow a purse from me and commented at all the great clothes I had in my closet that she had never seen on me before. I sadly told her I had bought most of them a few years ago when I had lost some weight and had gaine it all back. She convinced me to try them on again and I was surprised to learn that most of them either fit perfectly again or were even a little to big.

This made me come to a realization that I am changing and for the better. Yesterday morning for the first time in a long time I did not dread getting dressed because I knew that things fit better. My mind finally let me start believing what I had been seeing for the past few months. While out yesterday I did not feel the need to constantly readjust my clothing and feel like people were staring at me because my clothing looked horrible.

I know I still have a long road ahead of me to get my self confidence completely back but this is encouraing to me.