June 11th - Happy 49th Birthday to Me!

Today's the day my "lose 50 by 50" campaign officially begins! I'm very excited and the past few weeks have shown me that I can do this. Thank you, dear family and friends, for your support and encouragement! I'm touched by everyone who's opened up to me to share their own struggles with weight, health, and stress. Together, we can make better choices, share tips and advice, and keep each other encouraged and motivated.

I weighed in today for the first time in ten days after our Florida beach vacation. I gained back 2 of the pounds I'd lost over the past few weeks, so I'm beginning at 189 pounds. I used to shy away from pictures because I hated seeing the proof of the weight I'd gained, but now I've accepted that it's who I am at this moment in time and I need to be in family pictures so my kids will have them to remember me by. It's who I am, not what I look like. With that said, however, I've also accepted that weighing this much is terrible, terrible, terrible for my health and I'd really like to be around for many more years to come. I love my family and wish to be there for weddings, grandbabies, and all the joys that come with them.

I've discovered that I really do feel better after I exercise and I miss it when I don't get any. I sleep better and wake up alert if I've been swimming or walking. I don't care for the pain during walking, but swimming is a pleasure and I'm getting better at it each time. At the beach, we walked a few mornings, and did our share of swimming in the Gulf and the pool. The fourteen hour car ride home nearly did me in and I was weary and sore, but today I cleaned house, did laundry, vacuumed, grocery shopped, etc. and I feel better than if I'd laid around all day perpetuating the problem. Am I sad or mad that I gained two pounds on vacation? Ha! Not at all. If you could only see the food I ate while I was there...cubans, stuffed potatoes, deviled crabs, jambalaya, chocolate cake (twice!), steak, baked potatoes covered in sour cream and butter, amazing muffins from Sweet Sage Cafe, delicious pepperoni pizza from Pajano's, Greek salad, and more. Our vacation was truly a "taste of Tampa" and I'm thrilled I only put on 2 pounds! It could have been so much worse. So now that I'm home and in control of what I cook, if I swim, walk, and row, I should be able to lose that pound per week over the next year. It's exciting to see what's going to happen along the way. I can't wait to be at the end of the year looking back and contemplating what I learned along the way.

Keep my in your prayers, your good thoughts, and your best wishes along the way, will you? I'll greatly appreciate it!