A Matter of Perspective

About 5 years ago

My son stopped by the other day and mentioned that he and his wife were planning a birthday party for my oldest grandson.  They'd been looking through pictures of my grandson's first birthday party when they came across a photo of me, from almost five years ago.  My son commented on how he could hardly believe the difference between then and now.

Seeing the photo was a surprise.  In those days, I usually made sure that I was the one taking the shots because I really didn't care to see myself in pictures, other than head-shots.  I probably weighed around 280 lbs in that photo.  Looking at the picture made me realize just how far I've come.  Even at this incomplete stage, I could pretty much declare victory right now when compared to where my health was in this photo.  Though, there are still times when I look in the mirror and see my former self.  There are times when I feel just as heavy as I looked in the photo.  On those occasions, I turn my focus to the positive aspects of my journey.  I force my perspective back to reality and see myself as I am now.  I reflect on the progress that I've made and the goals that I'm pursuing.

A recent photo

The last time I posted a weigh-in was in June.  I'd lost 38.8 lbs.   Since then, I've lost another 8.8 lbs, bringing my total weight loss to 47.6 lbs.  I'm closing in on matching my largest weight loss total, 51.8 lbs, which I was, unfortunately, unable to maintain.  I feel confident that I will surpass that total, now that I have a better plan in place.

This week was a challenging one, as far my diet went.  I attended a retirement party, two going away parties and a birthday party.  While I did eat too many pastries and baked goods, I still managed to stay within my calorie count on the day of each event.  This was with minimal dipping into my exercise calories.

I didn't get into the gym until Thursday.  Even then, I didn't get to the weights until Saturday, so I got in four days of cardio and two strength training sessions.  It actually felt good to have had so much time off.  I was very rested when I got back to the weights.

Inspiration

I was out shopping with my wife when a Fall jacket caught my eye.  I thought that it would be a good interim replacement for my now too large leather jacket, which I mentioned in a previous post.  The jacket was on sale, but the sign stated two prices.  One price for "regular" sizes and ten dollars more for big and tall sizes.  Eighteen months ago, I would have had to pay that additional ten dollars.

My job has a health program where you submit your biometrics to get a discount on medical coverage.  I got my results from my doctor's office and plugged in the numbers.  My current numbers were better than last year's numbers in every category!  The software's assessment was basically, "Keep doing what you're doing."

Well, here's looking forward to another successful week!