It has been quite the summer.
I can’t believe that it’s already time for back to school shopping…
and new students…
and football…
and Christmas ornaments inside the Hallmark store…
yes, that was a thing I saw at the mall today…
but that rant is for another post.

By the time we blink, we will look back and wonder how it’s already time to make our New Year’s resolutions and why we haven’t tried to tackle them sooner.

I’m starting to see that as trend in my own life.

Three years ago this past Thursday, I officially lost 100 pounds for the first time. I weighed in below 257 pounds and I had done it all in 319 days. When I first started losing weight, I was shooting to lose 100 pounds by the time I finished grad school, but I blew that out of the water because I was loving my body and the things it could do for the first time in my life. Since that time, I have been above 257 pounds only a few times, the week after that weigh-in and this summer. Between vacationing, not eating well, and the extra weight I had already strapped on because of stress, I have been above that number for about a month. So this anniversary has been bittersweet, but has served as a wake up call for my journey.

Which leads me to tonight’s post…

The summer, with its ups and downs, has brought clarity to some things I have been struggling with in my weight loss journey. Because sometimes when we are sinking in the muck and mire, things are the most clear.

The reality is, if I don’t put my health and eating in front of other things in my life, I will gain my weight back.

During this past year, I got cocky and at times intentionally slacked off or didn’t track my food because I knew a week of hard work could balance everything out. But before I knew it, I was in too deep.

When I weighed in 36 pounds away from my lowest weight last week, I realized that if I slack too much now, the weight will pack back on in no time. To put it in perspective, if I dio the same thing I did this past year this upcoming year, odds are I would gain another 30-40 pounds. That means I would be back in the 300’s. If I did the same thing a year after that, I would be almost back to my starting weight. (Even as I’m typing this I’m freaked out). I can’t won’t let myself do that. Being physically uncomfortable at this weight has reminded me how horrible I felt all the time when I was obese.

With that all being said, there is a beautiful silver lining to this. When I reach my goal weight one day and I feel like slacking off for a while, I’m going to remember this season of my life and how guilty and frustrated I’ve felt. I will remember this as a teachable moment in my journey. It’s a conclusion I’ve had to come to on my own and in my own time.

So as this new school year begins and my life gets incredibly hectic all over again until December, I am going to make time for me. I’m going to exercise every day, whether that’s a run, lifting weights, or even a brisk walk (heck, I might even throw in some prancercising in there too…) and fuel my body with the food that it deserves because I’m responsible for this temple of awesomeness. I am very optimistic for this new year and can’t wait to see where I am the next time I’m celebrating my 100-pound milestone.