What a Difference 20 lbs Makes

I have officially lost 20 lbs, never to be regained again!  I feel amazing.  Strong.  Capable.  Hopeful.  Able.  Positive.  These good feelings are partly because I am physically carrying around less weight. Pick up a 20 lb bag of dog food and see how easy it is to accomplish daily tasks.  The physical weight is a burden that significantly hinders every day activities.

However, as important as the physical burden that has been lessened, is the emotional and mental burden that has been lessened as well.  Meeting my spiritual goals of reading my Bible and praying daily has had as much of an impact on how I feel as the other 4 daily goals.  God's word truly is The Living Word.  It feeds me in a way that no food ever could.  The more I read and learn, the more I hunger for God's truths.  The more I pray, the more I think about praying and specific people/situations to pray for each day.  I feel better spiritually than I have my entire adult life.

In the past, when I have started a "new plan" to lose weight, it would involve some amount of deprivation.  There would be a LONG list of foods that I "COULDN'T EAT!"  Therefore, I would obsess over what I couldn't eat.  Then I would obsess about all the diet challenges I knew were in the near future such as dinner at a restaurant, birthday parties, traveling, etc.  Those consuming thoughts would create so much pressure that I would eventually "blow the new plan" and would resort back to old habits.  Those old habits of drinking coffee and Diet Dr. Pepper all day, rarely drinking water,  eating lots of high fat/high sugar foods, eating very big portions, eating late at night would all result in regaining whatever weight I had lost and leaving me in a perpetual state of defeat and depression.

With the GREEN vs. RED system, I can have anything to eat that I want to eat.  I CHOOSE healthy foods because I FEEL BEST when I eat them.  I don't obsess about off limit foods, because there aren't any!   I no longer view dinner at a restaurant as a diet buster.  I  view it as a challenge to eat something healthy and "GREEN GOAL FRIENDLY."  I have had many opportunities over the past 48 days to choose unhealthy foods.  I have simply made the choice not to eat them because eating those foods are not conducive to meeting my daily goals.  It is so simple.

I have been INTENTIONAL and CONSISTENT with choosing healthy food options, drinking my water, moving more, sleeping more, and spending time reading God's word and praying.  It has paid off in a big way as is evidenced by the pictures.

March 13, 2013
"BEFORE, 184.6 LBS"

April 27, 2013
"IN PROGRESS"
20 LBS GONE, 164.2 LBS

April 27, 2013
The SIZE 14 jeans are BARELY HANGING ON!  47 Days ago, I could barely GET THEM ON!

April 27, 2013
CONSISTENCY makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE!