I was recently looking at the main page of my blog and the explanation of why I started this blog. I started this blog 7 years ago when I was training for my first 70.3, the Syracuse Half Ironman. I continued the blog through my struggles with my weight and being diagnosed with diabetes. And then I started to focus on life after weightloss surgery. The blog covered my weightloss and the training I was doing for marathons, half marathons, triathlons and eventually the Full Ironman.
From day one I always promised that I would be honest with you the readers and not portray my life as being perfect and without struggles. Five years ago I started using myfitnesspal to track the food I was eating and to get control of my weight. At the beginning I lost 30 pounds using the page. Then when I was diagnosed with diabetes I used it to show my diabetes coach and doctors what I was eating. This all became a daily habit and I still use it today. In fact today marked 5 years straight that I have logged my food. I have not missed a day in 1825 days...5 years!
There have been some highs and lows during those 5 years. The scale has seen some highs and lows and so have I! It is work every day. I must be conscious of what I am eating or I pay the price. I know the days I am not feeding my body what it needs and I can tell the days that I get it right.
Although my surgery was three years ago I am still working at it. I have goals that I haven't met yet and I am not giving up. During Ironman training the scale did not change much but I know I got leaner and I was feeding my body more often. I was hungry all the time! Now that Ironman training is done I have to convince my body no you can't eat the way you did for months or you will pay the price. Although I still have races on the schedule, the amount of hours I am working out has changed and I can't eat the same.
I know I can use things other than the scale as indications of how I am doing with my weight but admit it we want the almighty number to be at a certain point. This is a priority for me and I am not giving up. I will continue to log my food and find a way.
The photo on the right is a face to face four years apart. They were both taken at the Lake George Open Water Swim. The first picture was taken in 2015, one year before surgery, and the second just this month three years after surgery. I have never questioned my decision to have the surgery but it is always nice to have reminders of how far you have come. But this has not been an easy journey, every day I need to keep trying and keep fighting.
That is amazing progress! You have accomplished SO much in those 4 years, you should be proud and keep on doing what you are doing...It is working!!
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