A Step in the Right Direction

I'm grateful for my newfound weight loss attitude.  Well, newfound is stretching it.  I found it around year and a half ago.  It was November and I was at an all time high on the scale.  I knew that what I was doing wasn't working and I had to make some changes.  I had researched about every diet out there but none seemed to appeal to me.

I tried low carb, low fat, carb cycling, Weight Watchers and a few more.  And then I read the research.  It seemed bleak.  But I couldn't just stay fat.  I was uncomfortable, really uncomfortable.  Bending to tie my shoe, while doable, didn't feel very good.  My acid reflux was acting up and I just felt sort of gross.  I even tried advice from some intuitive eaters.  I bought new clothes in a size that fit.  I still didn't feel better.  I knew it was time to do something.

Because of all the reading and research I'd done I felt at a standstill.  There's something to be said for less choice.  I know it's very un-American of me to say so, but sometimes all those choices make things more difficult.  All the options are sort of paralyzing.

To fix my stagnate state I gave myself a challenge, a very doable one.  If you read some of my older posts you'll see more of what I'm talking about.  Basically, I allowed myself to do whatever diet I wanted on any given day.  You see, the research says that the best diet is one you can stick to.  And so I decided I could stick to something every day.  And mostly I did.

I've lost weight very slowly, as you can see in my weight loss charts, but I feel better.  I'm not where I want to be but I'm not where I was.

I've learned something over the past year and a half.  I have learned that I am capable of change. I have learned that even though I can feel paralyzed in one moment, if I take small steps with good intention, I will see results eventually.

Even if all my first steps were wobbly and not quite perfect, they were good because they got me to a place where I'm healthier and feeling better.  I had a reasonable goal, something to shoot for.

An idea that I got from Richard Rohr, a mystic Christian, is that setting off in the right direction won't guarantee you'll get there, but failing to move that way at all will guarantee you'll never get there.  Sage advice.