Patience and Perserverence DOES pay off!

It is amazing what time and patience can do! I've struggled with my weight most of my life but I had no idea that I had it in me to actually do something about it. Since finding out about my PCOS, I have gained more of a desire to get my health in check. My sister has been an amazing example for me because he has the same thing and when she found out, she just kept going until she finally reached her goal but hasn't stopped. It can be a difficult thing sometimes to choose healthy over delicious but healthy CAN be delicious. It also takes time and effort to not only eat right, but get out there and move! But I've done it so far. I could do better, especially food-wise ( more just actually cooking and eating a more balanced diet ) however, I have made some changes that have helped me drastically.

Since the first time a few summers that I stepped on a scale and found out the number I had reached in adulthood, I have been determined to get rid of it. For a while, I did really well. I began to lose and eventually I plateaued and shortly thereafter, stressful situations came into my life and I stopped. And I gained it back. Over the last year or so, I have been trying to focus more and more on my health. In January, however, I had the unfortunate luck to hurt my ankle which hindered my exercise goals. In retrospect, I still ate the right foods, cut out sugar completely out of my diet for about a month ( since then, I'm no longer dependent on sugars ) and have grossly increased my water intake. With a cast and injury, I already started to see a difference. Since healing, I've also been making goals to exercise more and get moving. I've recently purchased a bicycle as well which I've already gotten some excellent use out of. My muscles move better, my clothes are slowly getting smaller and even underwear fits better. It's wonderful! I have more energy and my skin even feels better. The best part, people notice it. That shouldn`t surprise me though considering the amount of weight I`ve lost in total. Are you ready for it?

To date I have officially lost 45 lbs!!! AMAZING! Now I just have to keep going. Along with the weight loss I am trying to teach myself habits that will last a lifetime. I don't just want to lose weight, I want to be healthy and be able to run marathons as well.

My short term goal is to lose 20 lbs at minimum over the summer which will put me not far off from my weight in high school. From there, I would like to lose at least another 30 lbs by the end of the year. That puts me at an average of 8.3 lbs of weight loss each month which is about 2 lbs a week, which is apparently healthy. Given that I am sure to plateau and slow my weight loss the more I lose, I may or may not reach that goal but that isn't going to stop me! Another 78 lbs or so will put me at my "initial" healthy goal weight.

I will continue to blog more often about my weekly health endeavors and share both my accomplishments and healthy finds! If anyone would like to offer tips and advice, they are gladly welcomed.

Health will not be only topic, however. I often have moments of inspiration or a need to express myself in word and this is the best place for it so if I ever rant, feel free to skip it. It's better on paper than in person as most people don't really care what I have to say so thank goodness for the scroll bar on the side of the browser.

Enjoy my blog and comments are both welcomed and encouraged!