Last year, around this time my husband, Joe and I started a new journey to better our health.  During this year, collectively, we’ve lost nearly 100 pounds…His 80 to my nearly 20…

At one of Joe’s recent races, we took a selfie, and I combined this picture with a picture from our daughter’s college before and aftergraduation exactly a year ago…see it over there? 

I then shared it on social media.  The response from our friends and family was dynamic.  The messages was great to read…so much encouragement, so much love…so much support.

When I was reading all the good wishes, there were many who said we looked great, but many who said they appreciated our determination to our health, love and sharing this journey together.

One of my favorites was…Way to go you!  You both look beautiful. You are an inspiration to relationships and dedication to what’s important…health and love…I really loved this one.

So it got me to thinking…thinking about what have we learned during this past year that means the most to me and to us.

But, first, I have a confession…We all know we started this journey because we saw that picture and HATED the way we looked.   Yikes! We gasped…how the hell did that happen?   When did we get this heavy? 

And so our journey began…and these are the five things we’ve learned along the way:

red-check-1We had to find the food/exercise plan that worked us – not you, not our neighbor, but us…We began to make healthier food choices, juicing, more organic foods, less garbage in the house. Joe began walking each morning…later running and now competes in Road Runner races.  Unheard of a year ago.  I joined the gym, wear my FitBit religiously and try my best to reach my daily 10,000 steps goal.  

red-check-1It’s not a competition. It’s a journey.  Can’t lie, I’m totally jealous of Joe’s substantial weight loss, but mostly, I’m envious of the number of calories he gets to have each day because of his size and the amount of calories he burns exercising…Really had to let that go.  I try my best to send him loving encouragement instead of jealous eye rolls…

red-check-1This is our new life and it’s how we’re gonna live it. There is no end here…when we reach our goal it is not over…it’s only just beginning…it’s who we are now…There will be slips and there will be triumphs…

red-check-1It’s not about how we look…This lesson is the greatest…We can’t change the way we look…we can only do our best to achieve better our health, become leaner and stronger…Gotta let go of the negative self-talk and embrace self-love and compassion.

red-check-1It’s about how we feel. I can only speak for myself here…I feel better…my joints are less stressed, I feel lighter and stronger each day…well, most days anyway.  I feel more confident and determined to my health a priority.

Perfectly timed…

I just found out exactly how Joe feels…He just called after completing a race in Central Park…He called to let me know he was done and that he ran a good race…I asked him how he felt…he answered….I feel like a winner today

Enough said…

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