Tomorrow, I will post my March update blog to reflect about how well I’ve been doing with keeping the resolutions I set for myself on January 1. I will go ahead and tell you now that the weight-loss resolution has not been going well, and I’ve no one to blame but myself. I can come up with many wonderful “reasons” why that is so, but truthfully, those reasons are simply excuses for my failure to stick by what I know I need to do to be successful. The bottom line is I know what I need to do to lose weight; after all, I lost 35 pounds last year after I made up my mind to do it and stuck with the plan. This year, I have failed to stick with the plan. By the end of March, if I’d met my resolution, I should be nine pounds less than I started the year. As of today, I’m two pounds less than I started the end of the year. While seven pounds may not really seem like a lot, it actually is in this case, which means this particular resolution is not progressing well. 

As part of this resolution, I set a goal to be able to wear dresses to both Travis’s UK graduation and Brandon’s wedding that are one size smaller than the dresses I wore last summer to Cody’s and Byron’s weddings. At the rate I’m going, that won’t happen. Therefore, I’ve got to revisit my plan, make adjustments, and get myself back on track now. I have already ordered the two dresses, and they should arrive sometime this week. I have until May 10 and May 17 to make sure I can actually wear them. I’m the only person who can make this happen.

So the first thing I need to do is get back on track with what I’m eating. I haven’t necessarily been overeating. After all, I have lost two pounds instead of gaining anything over the past three months, so that’s a good thing. However, I haven’t been cutting back like I need to do. I haven’t been creating and following my menus like I need to. I haven’t been tracking what I’ve been eating. This week I am on spring break, and starting today, I’m getting myself back on track with these things. I will write a menu to follow this week. I will track what I’m eating this week to make sure I’m actually cutting back on the calorie intake. I’m off to a fairly good start in this regard as I have put my breakfast and lunch into the Lose It! app. 

The second thing I need to do is get back on track with my exercise. I’ve only been exercising sporadically instead of consistently. I did get up this morning and do the 3-mile Leslie Sasone walk, so I have taken one step toward getting back on track this week. This afternoon, I will take another one when I revisit my exercise plan and make adjustments to get myself back on track. The important part of that, however, will be to follow through during the week. Being on spring break this week, I will have no excuse to try to convince myself that I don’t have the time to do the exercise. Not only do I need to get back on track with the exercise to help with the weight loss, I also need to get back on track with the exercise so that I can participate in the 5K I posted about just after the new year. I never in a million years would have guessed that I would ever participate in a 5K – or any kind of K for that matter – but that is something I want to do this year. The kids are doing a color run on April 12. I’m not participating in that one simply because the idea of having things thrown at me, even if it is only color packets, doesn’t sound fun to me at all. However, the kids have found a superhero run for September 20. I would like to be in shape by then so I can participate in that one without finishing last.

If I can do these two simple steps, I can get back on track with my weight loss, and it’s within the realm of possibility that I can be where I need to be (down 12 pounds) by the end of April. It’s also within the realm of possibility that I’ll actually be able to wear those two dresses to the events I bought them for. I feel so much better after having lost the 35 pounds last year, both physically and emotionally, but I still want to lose another 65 pounds. My goal is to lose at least 40 of those by the end of this year. I know I have my work cut out for me, but I also know I’m capable of doing this. I just have to make up my mind to do it, and as of today, that’s what I’ve done.