Slo Mo

The weather has FINALLY cooled off in Charleston which means that I can FINALLY walk around and not end up drenched in my own sweat.  It means I can FINALLY wear normal clothes without worrying about suffering from heat stroke.  In short, the weather is good.


On Friday I decided to go for a run to celebrate.  I was having a great run.  It wasn't too hot, I felt really strong.  Even my iPod was playing all of my favorite songs.  


Everything was going really well until I was just about as far from my apartment as I could possibly be.  I took my eyes off of the uneven sidewalk for a minute to check my watch and my toe caught on a crack in the cement.  Time seemed to freeze as I saw myself slowly falling toward the ground.  I stuck my hands out in a feeble attempt to catch myself, but then leg and hands met with pavement.  


Two full days later my leg looks like this:

and it hurts like whoa

Anyway, I learned a couple of really important things from my most recent trip.  

1. When you fall, you HAVE to pick yourself up and keep on keeping on.  After I fell, I really wanted to sit on the sidewalk and cry.  But I needed to get back home.  So I stood up, composed myself, and actually jogged most of the way back to my apartment.  Sitting on the sidewalk and crying wasn't going to help anyone or solve anything, so I didn't.
2. A lot of the time, you have to pull yourself through by yourself.  On the mile and a half between the spill and my apartment I passed at least 30 people.  I had a large, fresh looking raspberry and blood running down my leg.  And not one person asked if I was ok.  I'm still pretty bitter about this.  

So what does all of this mean?  Basically it was a way for me to tell anyone who still reads this blog that I'm rededicating myself to a healthy lifestyle.  For the past few weeks I've been very focused on watching what I'm eating and getting lots of exercise.  And I've seen results.  I've dropped about 4 pounds by cutting the junk from my diet, increasing my protein intake and moving a LOT more.  

Losing weight is hard.  I've fallen off of the bandwagon a lot of time.  When it comes down to it, I have to be the one to pick myself up and keep going.  I can't depend on anyone else to do the work for me.  Weight loss is one battle we have to do for ourselves, by ourselves.  I'm not saying that you're all alone, but I am saying that at the end of the day it comes down to what I decide to eat and how I decide to move.

So here's the scoop.  I'm turning 25 in March.  I'm tired of being overweight.  I do not want to be overweight for another year of my life.  I want to be at my goal weight by my 25th birthday.  Right now I am 24 pounds away from my goal weight.  I want to lose 3 more pounds before my friend Laura's wedding in November.  I want to lose 8 more pounds before Christmas.  

Its go time.