I feel like I’m in the home stretch of the first leg of a life-changing journey. I am less than 25 pounds away from my goal…a goal that started with 283 pounds to go! I know that the second leg of this journey is the rest of my life, and it will be no less of journey. This last bit of the first leg is going to probably take a bit longer as the weight loss has slowed some. But I will still get there (and either way, I’m in the “gravy” phase, so it’s all good as long as I don’t regain. 🙂
As I near that first finish line, I hope I never forget how things were before. I hope I never forget…
- How taking more than 20 steps was a big deal.
- How I had to really think about most movement.
- How everything hurt all the time.
- How hard climbing steps was.
- How often I would get out of breath doing simple tasks.
- How self conscious I was all the time.
- How I was ALWAYS the biggest guy in the room.
- How I couldn’t cross my legs.
- How I couldn’t shop at normal clothes stores.
- How much I would eat, then beat myself up about it.
- How I couldn’t get up off the floor without a LOT of work and stress.
- How I always had to worry about where to sit in a restaurant…or anywhere else.
- How I would always worry if I was going to break a chair or other piece of furniture (it happened…more than once).
- How my weight made me depressed and anxious.
- How much blood pressure medicine I had to take.
- How bad my heartburn was.
- How I had to sleep with a CPAP machine.
- How I couldn’t do things around the house like mow the yard or fix things.
- How much I missed out on doing fun things I enjoyed, due to my weight.
- How many memories I missed making with family and friends.
I try to go for a short walk at work every day, weather and time willing. Each day I have a moment, however brief, where I remind myself “you couldn’t do this before.” Even that short 5-10 minute walk, I couldn’t have done it before.
I hope I never forget this stuff. I hope I never take this new lease on life for granted!