The challenge ended with a final weigh-in on Thursday and a celebration yesterday. Due to work obligations, I weighed in Wednesday night. I lost 11 pounds over the past 90 days. I then missed the participant party out of sheer exhaustion and a need to sleep in and veg yesterday. Yes, I ended my challenge with a bit of a whimper.
If you are new to my blog (welcome!), here’s where the challenge started. Back in August, the sun was shining and my spirits were up since I was getting reacquainted to regular exercise after a May car accident. I saw my gym’s challenge as a jumpstart back to my weight loss journey. It included a few nutrition classes and cross-training exercise plan.
Well, I’ll be the first to state the past 90 days didn’t go as planned. I struggled with focus after being in another car accident in September. Daily life became a balance of handling work responsibilities, making it to physical therapy appointments, trying to stay with my healthy eating choices, managing through chronic pain.
I share this not to make excuses for not reaching my goal, but to document for myself another example of the realities of life and that my weight loss journey isn’t something that will occur via a magic wand waved smooth transition. There are patterns that I learned over the past 19 years that I consciously work on to no longer repeat. There are foods that remain as triggers to binge (hello brownies). There are moments when the thought of spending 45 minutes on the recumbent bike makes me want to crawl under my bed. The past 90 days were difficult and I’m ready to maintain the place I’ve progressed to and face the next challenge when it comes. That is my reality and I’m okay with it.
Barbara McDowell 