Healthy Steps – Week 25

When I stepped on the scale today, I told my WW leader, “Anything that’s not a gain is a victory.” And I didn’t even mean that. I meant, “Anything that’s not +5 pounds is a victory.”

Imagine my shock… I was down 2.2 pounds and am now less than 1 pound away from my Big Goal of 10% removed. Could next week (incidentally, week 26 and halfway through a year) be the day?

It’s been a rough week, filled with meltdowns, mental health days, and me time. I thought a lot of sugar, too, but I think I did better on portion control than I thought.

As (apparently) always, I’m going to focus on these goals. Frankly, they could use the work.

  • Tracking 4 of 7 days
  • 1 Frappachino per day
  • Eating my prepared food
  • Hit 11,000 all seven days, taking at least one break/lunch walk

And today, instead of an uplifting image, I’m going to leave with a prayer I saw online that touched me.

Slow Me Down Lord

Slow me down Lord
Ease the pounding of my heart
by the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace
with a vision of the eternal march of time.
Give me amid the confusion of the day,
the calmness of the eternal hills.

Break the tension of my nerves and muscles
with the soothing music of the singing streams
that live in my memory.

Help me to know the magical restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art of taking MINUTE vacations,
Of slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend,
to pat a dog,
to read a few lines of a good book.

Slow me down Lord
and inspire me to send my roots
deep into the soil of life’s enduring values
that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.

Author: Wilfred A. Peterson

 

I signed off, then decided I needed to add something.

This week’s WW topic is body image. When the leader asked the group what came to mind when she mentioned that word, I (in a fit of unedited honesty) said, “Hopeless.”

While I hate to admit that I hijacked the group, that’s effectively what I did and the group could not have been sweeter or more supportive. The leader took us around in an exercise where we all said something we admired about the person on your left, and at the end I talked with a couple of people who really made me realize that we all do affect each other and keep each other going, as long as we show up.

So yes, my feet and knees are bothering me. But two people commented this week that they are starting to notice my weight loss, I have pretty eyes, and when I ride my bike back and forth to work or walk on my breaks, people notice and it galvanizes them to do it too.

Progress happens.