The Kat Files

a feathered friend on one of my walks this week

Three revelations last weekend prompted me to take action on the morning of July 1st. The first “aha” moment was Jessica N. Turner’s Facebook post on Saturday morning. Jessica writes a blog called The Mom Creative. She posted a selfie of herself on her morning walk as documentation of making no more excuses about taking care of herself. I found it inspiring.

The second lightbulb moment was admitting to you, dear reader, in my second quarterly review that I had not completed any of my remaining 13 items on my 18 for 2018 list which includes losing 18 pounds. Acknowledging to you in my last post that I am failing at this task made me feel uncomfortable.

The third revelation came in the guise of a TedTalk by Laura Vanderkam who writes about time management. After telling a story about a woman dealing with a busted hot water heater and the time she spent dealing with it, Laura made a few important points in her talk that resonated with me.

• “Time is highly elastic.”
• “Time will stretch to accommodate what we choose to put into it.”
• “The key to time management is treating our priorities as the equivalent of that broken water heater.”
• “I don’t have time,” often means “It’s not a priority.”

Subsequently, I dragged my booty out of bed the next morning, took a selfie of myself making the commitment, and walked for an hour. After walking, I documented my starting weight at 158 pounds. I dug in a kitchen cabinet and pulled out my “pounds to go” and “pounds lost” containers. Diligently, I counted out 18 marbles, dropped them all in the “pounds to go” container, and sat both containers on my kitchen counter. This means that by 31 December 2018, I will need to weigh at least 140 pounds. There is no more “I don’t have time” because taking care of my health is important, and it is time for me to make my health a priority.

It has been one week, and I am proud to announce that I have walked every day this week. One day I even walked twice (morning and evening). In addition to walking, Andrew and I played tennis yesterday morning with my friends Pam and Kathryn. I also weighed in this morning. I have not lost any weight (still 158 pounds) and had not anticipated losing any since I am not keeping a food journal at this time. However, I did cut back on added sugar: no sodas, no honey in my green tea, no candy, or sweets…except on Friday at lunch (a slice of strawberry pie made its way into my belly). Although I am limiting processed foods, I am still eating carbs.  For now, I am focusing on moving every day and making my commitment to exercise. I MUST also increase my water intake. In a few weeks, I will set up my food journal and start tracking what I eat. Then, I’ll have to make the commitment to eating clean the majority of the time for the rest of my life. It will be incredibly hard because I enjoy food especially the foods that pack on the pounds.

Well, dear reader, it appears that you will be my accountability partner…again. I’ve successfully lost weight before; however, this time I not only need to lose the weight, but I also need to keep it off for the long term. Please feel free to “weigh in” with any words of wisdom or encouragement. Oh, and if you are struggling with making time for your priorities, check out Laura Vanderkam’s TedTalk which is less than 12 minutes. Happiness!

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” ~ Ovid