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Many moons ago, I started on a journey that I chronicled on an old blog. I called it Shrinking Me. It wasn’t a journey relating to the common shrinkage associated with my advancing years, it was all about my weight loss journey. Over the course of a few months, I committed to eating properly, exercising and making myself mentally healthy.  In those few months, I managed to shed about 40 pounds.

Then, I stopped blogging. I stopped caring about eating well. I cared about living life without the shackles of responsibilities. I was living the high life and didn’t need diets weighing me down.

Bright idea. The diet wasn’t weighing me down, but the 40 pounds made their way back. Over the course of the last two years, 20 more joined the party.  If I’m not careful, my weight will soon start with an entirely new number.  It’s time to change. It’s time to refocus and do what I need to do to be healthy.

Over the years, I’ve been angry with loved ones for their bad habits. My dad, a life long smoker, struggles with his nicotine addiction daily. For many years, I think he knew he needed to quit but he couldn’t. No amount of anger by me would change that. Recently, he decided to stop smoking. Last time we talked, he’d been successful for 60-ish consecutive days. 60 days of waking up and choosing actively to be different.

If he could do it… so can I. For all the same reasons I bitched at him about his smoking. To be healthier. To feel better about myself. To live long enough to see my kids graduate. I have to do something. I have to be accountable to myself. I have to get back to the resolve I had when I first embarked on Shrinking Me.

I’m going to start blogging from time to time again about Shrinking Me. Updates on my weight loss (or gains). Updates on my exercise. Updates on feeling better. I’m only 35. I’m not too old to do something for myself. I may have worn out knees but for every inch I can walk today at 290 lbs, I can walk an easier inch at 175 lbs. Getting there will be a journey, but being there will feel better than where I am today.