Halfway There, and feeling better than every! :D

Six years ago I weighed about 125 pounds. I was very active and very healthy. I used to dance, mountain climb and repel, and did most all of the odd-jobs around the house. Then six years ago my I met Brian, my sweetie, who is very gentleman-like and wanted to carry everything, DO everything for me. My eating habits changed (five kids between us, and they all wanted junk food and fatty dinners) and I put on an amazing 53 pounds between then and now. Egads. The wieght gain wasn't enough to change how I've been living, but my health is. In the past two years I've been sick almost everyday. I have been exhausted all the time, experienced headaches daily, and was starting to experience a horrible depression. It was time to make a change.

When I started this diet I weighed more than I have ever weighed in my life, 178 pounds. (at 5'4") I've had enough experience with diets in my lifetime to know that trying to lose too much weight all at once can be hard on my motivation levels, so I set what I thought was a reasonable goal, getting to 150 pounds. (If I can lose that I'll set another goal for getting to 130 pounds.) I've made some healthy lifestyle changes; upped my activity level, quit drinking any alcohol or sodas, replaced most of the bad foods I ate with healthier choices, (I am cooking almost everything from scratch and there's lots of whole grains and greens in there, lower fats, higher protein) and it seems to be paying off! I weighed myself this morning and:

Status: Lost 14.4 lbs, 13.6 lbs to go!

Woohoo! I'm more than halfway to my goal! This really fuels my motivation. And it helps that the changes I've made to my diet are easy to follow and I feel like I can mostly stick to them for a lifetime, and I have plenty of room to improve my activity levels, so if I plateau, I can up my exercises, and work on my eating program and perhaps keep up the constant drop.

The real plus is, however, not just my weight loss, but the fact that I am feeling good that matters to me. I wake up now without an alarm clock because I am getting the rest I need, the exhaustion is gone. No more headaches, and I think that is because I cut the caffeine out of my diet. My energy levels have doubled, and my moods are stable and upbeat. The results are what really matter to me, and they'll help me stick to my new lifestyle. And honestly, it's because I am at CC tracking my progress and habits, and with such a great group of people here in these forums. Thanks for being here CC!

Congrats auburndawn!  I think it's great you have recognized that there is more to it than losing weight- you feel great about yourself, and that's even more important! It's amazing to me how much diet and exercise can have an effect on so many other health issues for us.  Keep up the GREAT work, you are doing a fantastic job, and not far from your goal  :)