Wednesday 25 July 2012

Letter to Myself

As I've mentioned before, I'm participating in a Lose a Marathon Challenge. The goal is to lose 26.1lbs by September 17th. I'm not sure if I'm actually going to reach that goal, my progress has been pretty slow, but I'm still making progress and that's all that matters. 


Every week we are given mini challenges and it's up to us if we want to participate. Last weeks' challenge was to take photos of every meal and post them, preferably somewhere public. I didn't participate in this one. I love photography, but I just don't have the patience (or memory!) to photograph my meals every day. Not to mention the lighting in my apartment is horrible and my pictures always look like crap. 


This weeks challenge was intriguing though.
WEEK FIVE CHALLENGE: Love Thy Self. Write yourself a Love Letter.  This may sound corny, but please give it a try. Use this neat website here that lets you write your letter now and schedule delivery for a future date. This can help you focus right now, and again down the road. Here are some ideas on what to write...
• Tell yourself you awesome you are
• What are you fighting for? Why do you want to lose weight?
• What you've accomplished today, this week, the past month...
• Your strong habits, things you're good at
• What you love about yourself
• Words of encouragement to 'Lose the Marathon'
• How you are going to feel when you hit your goal? What are you capable?
• Be sure to thank your{future}self for taking the vow to change your life in healthy ways.
There is no need to share your letter with anyone else. This is a personal challenge that only you can benefit from. I hope you take five minutes out of your busy schedule to love yourself this week!

I'm not a writer. I struggle to come up with ideas, well-written sentences and meaningful posts. I'm actually surprised that I enjoy blogging. I also find it very hard to be honest with myself in weight loss and life in general. Which is why I want to take part in this weeks' challenge. 

I've mentioned before that I once got down to 214lbs and I have no recollection of ever being in the 100's ( I was very heavy as a child). Over the past few years I slowly put the weight back on, but my mind still believed that I had maintained some of my weight loss. I was in denial, I didn't want to believe that I gained most of the weight back and it wasn't until I weighed in at 279lbs and my old winter coat didn't fit that I started to be honest with myself. I remember when it hit me that yes, I have gained back 60lbs over that past few years.. it was hard to swallow. Even now, I have a hard time being honest with myself about my current weight loss. It's great that I've lost almost 30lbs, but I'm in denial that it has taken me since January to do so...It's not until I look at my Weigh In page that it really sinks in.


I've decided that I want to write an honest letter to myself, but I'm not going to make it public. Not yet anyways. I'm going to have it sent to me on April 22nd, 2013... the day before my one year blog anniversary. I will post it on the 23rd. I think it will be good timing. If I stay on track, I should be well into the 100's. If I have slipped and not in the 100's (and likely not being honest with myself), then hopefully it will be a good kick in the butt! 

Stay tuned on April 23rd, 2013 to see what I wrote ;) 




9 comments:

  1. I really like the idea of writing yourself a letter. I may have to try that.

    Keep documenting with pictures. that is a great way to have a visual of where you are... where you have come from. Maybe put a picture you hate on your fridge door.

    Don't be so hard on yourself. It may have taken since Jan to lose 30 pounds... but that is amazing. That is a lot of weight. And YOU did that. Always better with a - in front!!

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    1. It's a really neat site and I like that you can enter a delivery date.
      I will definitely keep documenting with pictures, I'm going to do another set soon :)

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  2. I too have lost 30 pounds since January, and as you know our numbers as stories are very similar!! I just wanted to remind you of how proud you have to be with the thirty pounds. I sometimes get upset when I compare myself to others weight loss success, and think good god I'm at turtle speed. But just imagine another 20-30 pounds gone at the end of this year. Just wanted to remind you that I'm also at -30, so don't feel like you're behind. Have a great week!!

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    1. I know, I hate sayin "only" 30lbs because I'm SO glad I'm where I am today and not still in the 270's. If I could lose another 30lbs in the next 6 months, I really would be happy. Thanks for the reminder :)

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  3. You're doing GREAT! We live in an instant gratification day of age. It sucks when we have to wait. Just remember, One day at a time, one decision at a time, one bite at a time! I'm also working on the lose a marathon challenge... slow and steady wins the race :) We will both reach the marathon loss, just keep going. odaat, odaat, obaat!

    I've been working on the letter to myself too. I love that we can have a positive influence on our future selves. I read a blog about these types of letters, how 95% of them will come true because we write what we truely want and in writing it out, we visualize it... therefore fullfilling it!

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement! Writing the letter sure does put things into perspective, in a good way. We will succeed!

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  4. What a great idea! I will look forward to reading it next year. :)

    You're doing wonderful--don't give up on yourself!!

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  5. This is such a cool idea! And you should be really proud of your weight loss so far, I can't wait until I can say I've lost that much! Thanks for sharing the letter idea. :)

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  6. What a great idea to write yourself a letter. Similar to photos, it will be great to look back on a time in your life and reflect how far you have come or how much you have changed!

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