LHAS - 13 of 16: Where has the time gone?

I just think it's entirely unfair that time goes by so quickly. I remember when the challenge started, I thought I'd be able to totally change my body by the end of it. I'm gonna lose 24lbs in the next 16 weeks, that's what I'm gonna do. Ya right?!

My starting weight on May 5th was 162.6.
My current weight is 158.8.

13 weeks and 3.8lbs lost. Averaged out, it's a whopping 0.29lbs per week.

I knew that 24lbs in 16 weeks was a stretch. And I knew I probably wouldn't reach it. But I thought I'd at least hit 16lbs while reaching for the 24. FAT chance!

13 weeks and 3,365 minutes exercised. Averaged out, that's 259 minutes per week. My goal was 360 minutes per week. That means I'm about an hour short per week. Not bad actually. Instead of 6hours of exercise every week, I've done 5. I'll take it.

I've had a couple set backs along the way but I'm not even going there because that's just fishing for excuses. Truth is that I could have done better with food, with exercise, and especially with stress management the entire time. But I didn't. I got sick. I got injured. I got a little bummed out. I took a vacation. Life. Life happened and I let it.

The good news is that I'm still here. I'm still living active and actively living. I'm still eating healthful foods. I'm still exercising regularly. I'm still doing what I need to do. I will never stop. Never! This is a life changing experience, this losing weight and living active thing. I said I wasn't in a hurry to get to my goal weight and my body is proving me right. There's no need to criticize myself for it. It's a learning process. It's a living process.

Of course I could give up some foods and experiences in life and just go balls to the wall all out and lose all the weight I can as quickly as I can. But I don't want to. I want to do it the right way. I want to do it the lasting way. I want it to be the forever way. And that's what I'm doing. One day, one week, one month, one year at a time. I'm an impatient person so it's a challenge but I know in my heart that it's right.

For the month of August, I was thinking about setting a new goal for myself to push toward something short term. I thought, maybe I'd like to try to lose 2lbs per week. That's a good goal. It's realistic but very challenging. Then Accountabilibuddy and I talked about it and I agree with her that a weight loss goal for me isn't a good idea. For me, I don't think my success can be measured by a scale. I think my success can better be measured by my behaviors. I find peace when I do the things that make me happy on a daily basis. And when I find that peace and balance, my body responds by shedding the fat.

My focus for the month of August is to:
Read daily
Write daily
Exercise daily
Drink 60oz water daily
Gratitude list daily
Sleep 8 hours every night
Practice my guitar daily
Meal plan weekly (and follow it)


LHAS Stats for Week 13
Lbs lost = 0.2
Minutes exercised = 180

Here's to week 14!