I have an issue with my weight.  I have a LOT of issues with my weight.  I have struggled with my weight and fitness since before I even had the kiddos and of course after having them it did NOT get any better.

You might ask where weight fits in a blog about modesty but I think it fits in just right.  I believe things should be done modestly and in moderation and yet lately I have been eating like it’s going out of style.  How in the world does that fit in to a modest lifestyle?  Well, it doesn’t.  Not really.  Living a healthy lifestyle and working on my weight will definitely be a part of this page.

Time for a little history to those that either don’t know me well or haven’t been privy to my previous blogging.  Three years ago I used the Weight Watchers points program to get my eating under control and focus on healthy living.  It worked wonders and I was able to lose weight and get in much better shape.  That didn’t last when I started back to school and stopped focusing on myself.  I was working full-time and going to school and eventually something had to give and that was my health/weight.  I’m not blaming anyone, I take full responsibility for it.  It’s life.  Sometimes life ends up winning out but it doesn’t make it good.

Last summer in July I recognized the direction I was going and decided I needed to have some accountability again and decided to join Weight Watchers and use the new PointsPlus program and go to the meetings.  Again, I did great because I paid attention to myself and what I was eating and how much I was exercising.  I lost about 15 pounds and was exercising at least 4 times a week.

Then came nursing school.  Wow.  That was something I was just not prepared for.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I certainly didn’t think it was going to be easy but I had no idea just how hard it was going to be.  I was still working full-time when I started last August.  I had taken all of my previous classes on a part-time basis and going to school full-time was a whole new animal for me.  Not only is nursing school a full-time job in and of itself, but the work required to do well is so much more above and beyond than I can say.  And really, given the profession we’re talking about, I would expect no less.  I don’t want to be an undereducated person out there trying to give people good nursing care, far from it.   All of that together, along with losing my job, equaled me quitting Weight Watchers to save time and money, and me putting on that 15 pounds I lost last summer.  Yeah, not so great.

I know I’m not alone.  I know a lot of people struggle with their weight and some of my friends in nursing school also went through the 10-15 pound gain that I did.  That’s just how time consuming and stressful it all is.  I’m not letting that win out though.  A few weeks ago I decided to start working out again and my awesome friend, Whitney, has been doing the same program and encouraging me to keep it up.  I do know that it’s not enough to just exercise though.  Last week I finally admitted to myself that I was just blindly going through and filling my body up with junk.  And I’m over it.  I know myself and I know that without accountability and without structure that I’m horrible about choosing things to eat.

So where does that leave me?  Joining Weight Watchers once again to give me the structure I need to have to be successful and healthy.  I jumped in on Saturday and could not feel better that I am making good choices to make a change.  I found out yesterday that another friend just joined last weekend too and I could not be happier to have a buddy on this journey.  I’m not going to out here here, so to speak, because that’s her journey but I’ll just say that she’s awesome and I’m so excited that she’s making fabulous choices for herself too.

I know that hitting the goal I put out for this year of running a half marathon is not going to happen without me putting in a lot of work.  While I was working out more before, now I’m making the food fit with everything else and I know that if I put in the work that my goal is not unattainable.  A good exercise program along with the right food I put in my body are the things I need to make this happen.  I also do want to lose weight (who doesn’t?!) and I will be tracking that here with some regularity.

I saw a quote this week that said “Winners are not people who never fail, but people who never quit”.  Yep, I’m not at the weight I want to be and haven’t hit my goals yet but I am definitely not quitting.  There may just be a winner in me yet!