It’s been a while since the last post about my weight-loss, and I surely haven’t forgotten about it, nor do I intend to give up before even reaching my first goal of losing the first 60 pounds.
I did, however, hit a big bump there for a little over two weeks. For those of you that don’t already know, I had been on a road-trip that spanned just over 3300 miles, 15 days and about 10 cities. I even wrote some blog posts along the way: Midwestern Travel Update…. Halfway There…. ish! and The Adventure Continues… (a solid wrap up post coming soon)
What I haven’t talked about yet is the toll it took on my weight-loss efforts and the thoughts I had going into it. When I left, I knew maintaining a diet like the one I’ve been on would be extremely difficult, but I surely did pack my running shoes, my juicer, bought a cooler that fit perfectly on the floor in my front seat and juiced a good $100+ in kale, cucumbers, celery, apples and pears. I did my best to drink that, and only that right up until the wedding, stopped and did some food shopping while I was in Dyersville, Iowa and even made a second round of juice while I was out on the road. Did some running while I could, was on my feet most of the time and tried to NOT over eat, or consume totally unhealthy things when it could be avoided. It’s a lot harder to keep to a diet when you’re on the road like that, harder than I really thought actually. It’s not that there’s no healthy options out there, but when you’re 1500 miles from home on a long empty highway, the only things marked by signs are McDonald’s, Burger King, Cracker Barrel and gas stations. I almost wish there was an iPhone app that would show you where along your route there were some healthy options.
Needless to say, I was not as successful as I wanted to be, but I kept the idea at the forefront of my mind that a two-week road-trip like that one is probably not something I’m going to get to do very often and enjoying the trip, the driving, the time with friends and of course, the awesome things I saw along the way was the most important and, WOW, did see some awesome things and have some great times!!
Finally, the important part… how much damage was done!?!? Well, the day I left, I was 276 pounds, I had lost 32 of the first 60 pounds I set out for, and not surprisingly at all, when I got home, I had gained a few. The morning after I arrived home, I was up 6.2 pounds. I wasn’t thrilled about it and I immediately buckled down, started running my butt off and slowly settling back into my diet. The awesome news is, as of this morning, just before writing this post, almost all the damage has been reversed, I’m back down to 276.2 pounds, just 6 days later and I would expect by tomorrow morning, I’ll be back on track with a new low!
I guess the important lesson learned here, and the major difference between this current effort to lose weight and the others is that I’m keeping it in perspective. My last few “balls to wall, all out” attempts where I went at it with no breaks, no cheat days, no rest days, etc… really missed the point. I want to lose weight to better enjoy my life, to feel more attractive, to have more fun, and to OPEN up opportunities to do new things. NOT to lock myself in my apartment eating horrible foods and running and rowing for days on end. It’s about reconnecting with friends, moving my life forward from recent events, and improving what my future can and will be as well as making sustainable long term changes in how I manage my weight, diet and exercise.
I will surely be writing a post soon about the thoughts I had while driving these last 3300 miles, so keep your eyes peeled for that one! Just so you know now though, I’m in a better, happier place where I understand so much more about what it’s going to take to for me to turn around some bad times from the last few months and keep this run of positive experiences and days going for a very long time!