You Can Do It!

Hey again everyone! I hope everyone is having a good Monday, and had a good weekend! Can you believe Thanksgiving is in three days?! I’m quite looking forward to it, and the Christmas season, but I just can’t believe it’s already that time of year.

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So the big news today is that I weighed in and lost FOUR POUNDS! I am so excited! I’m also just kind of amazed. I wouldn’t call it easy, but it’s definitely so doable that I’m sitting here thinking, “Why have I been this heavy this long?!?” So that was pretty exciting! I am now firmly in the 250s, on my way down to the 240s! I walked 3 miles today already! 🙂

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I’m also going to attempt to take it easy this week, more than normal, considering I am going to allow myself a normal, food-soaked Thanksgving. For me, it’s important not to deprive myself of things, especially since food is something I really look forward to. It’s a deep psychological issue for me, but I still have to wean myself from that kind of thinking slowly. And, come on! Thanksgiving is something everyone looks forward to! I’m all about not feeling too guilty on Thanksgiving.

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Also: this is sort of random, but I came across this photo on TheMetaPicture.com (a site that posts random funny, cute, newsworthy, etc. stuff from around the ‘net) and I thought I would share it here. I was floored! Check this out for inspiration!!! (I apologize for it being such a tall photo! It’s well worth it! Click the photo to see it full size.)

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I was considering what I wanted to write about today, along with my weigh-in and the latest inspirational photo, and I figured this was as good a time as any to write about something that has been on my mind for a long, long time. That is, way before this current weight loss notion was present; I’ve been thinking about this for all the years I have been heavy! I always say to myself and others: You can still do anything you want, weight by damned.

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And of course, that’s not entirely true. I probably can’t take part in a triathlon and live to see the next sunrise. I can’t climb Mount Everest. I can’t fit into a size 8 dress. I can’t be a supermodel – at least not by today’s standards. But here’s what I can do: I can dance with my friends in the living room for 3 hours. Even if I’m out of breath and sweating up a storm, I’m happy and I’m still moving. I can hike around a hilly state park all day, climbing hundreds of stairs with a 30-pound backpack on my back, taking photos I will cherish forever. I can take silly jumping pictures with my friends on a warm autumn day. I can walk my dog anywhere we want to go. I can lug heavy groceries in both arms and make it up the stairs to a second-story apartment. I can squat, lie or sit down on the ground for the perfect angle for a photograph. I can do all of these things and more, even though I am 256 pounds. The weight doesn’t stop me. Yes, it makes a LOT of things harder, that’s for dang sure, but it doesn’t stop me.

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And it shouldn’t stop you.

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By all means – please, please don’t endanger your life doing things you legitimately can’t do. If you can’t walk the 6 miles around the park, don’t do it – work up to it! If you can’t fit into a size 10, wear the size you can fit into and work to get down to that size. My point is that so much of it is mental. So much of the struggle is mental, and so much of the progress is mental. It’s all in what you tell yourself and allow yourself to do – or not do. And a lot of it is laziness. I’m one of the laziest people I know, I swear. Sometimes I think, “Man, it would be easier to sit here on the couch instead of joining in on the hike around the lake.” But sometimes you just have to kick yourself in the pants and go, “Ya know what? I really want to do this, and I can, physically. My weight may make it more difficult, but heck if I’m going to let the world pass me by!” So that’s my little message today: don’t let the world pass you by today. Don’t let it pass you by any day. Whenever there’s opposition to my being able to do something due to my weight, I just say, “I can do anything.” Those four words can be profound in a lot of ways. Let it be profound for you, too.

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And so I ask you, readers:

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What’s that one (or two, or ten) thing that you are proud you can still do, even though your weight makes it more difficult?

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If you’re not overweight, what’s something you’re proud you can do even though it’s easier not to do it and/or give up? What’s something in your life you’re glad you’ve persevered through? Answer in the comments, or message/email me! 🙂

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Life is so darn short. I think about that all the time. It’s such a cliche, but it is perhaps the most true of all the cliches that exist. Yes, you may be heavy, or you may have some sort of other issue – mental, physical, emotional – that makes something harder to do. But you can do it. And this life is too short to think otherwise.