I am so excited to share my first ever guest post with you! If y’all don’t already know Tara, head on over to her blog by clicking this link, and add her to your reader. Go on, we’ll wait…okay, good. Now, settle in for a good read. And when you’re done? Do me a favor and go share some encouragement with someone you know who’s new to this healthy living stuff. Share a link to this post, give a word of advice, offer to work out with a friend, whatever. We all started somewhere, and we’re all where we are because of hard work and determination and the help and encouragement of others. Let’s pay it forward.
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So, this is my first guest post. I can’t tell you how many times I started the first line only to erase and start over hoping for some sort of inspiration that would make this entry catch the eyes of the readers and at the same time provide you with something helpful you can put in your pocket and use later…
I thought about what I should write. Should I write about running? Should I write about preparing for my first triathlon? Should I write about how I’ve lost 80 pounds in 8 months just by eating less and moving more? And then it hit me…
I want to write about the beginning.
If you’ve been on this Life Changing Journey otherwise known in my blogging neighborhood as LCJ (to know me is to know that I love a good three letter acronym or TLA) for some time then this post may seem a little redundant. You know what it takes to be where you are right now. You’ve experienced the tears, and frustrations. You’ve felt the joys of losing weight and seen all your hard work pay off with smaller clothes, muscle definition and the newly acquired ability to push your plate away half way through a meal because you are full.
But I remember what it was like before that. I remember what it was like to lie awake in bed at 5am crying my eyes out because I was too embarrassed to take my 270 pound body outside to do any kind of exercise so I had to do it before the sun came up. I remember what it was like try to eat something healthy at work only to be sabotaged (by my own doing) because someone decided that ordering in a pizza was a good idea. I remember what it was like to count out 15 mini pretzels and wonder if I should count the broken ones. I remember what it was like to finally see what a serving of cereal looked like and thought to myself “how in the world can someone only eat this much and be satisfied?” I remember what it was like be out of breath after 15 minutes on the wii…
Is that where you are today?
If I could reach through this post and put my arms around you and tell you I understand everything you’re feeling right now I would. I’d look you in the eyes and say “We’ve all been there” because you know what? We’ve all been there. That’s the wonderful thing about this journey; we all had to take the first step.
Do not give up.
Let me repeat that: DO NOT GIVE UP.
I don’t care where you are on this journey. Maybe you’re just looking through some blogs wondering about your own weight (I read weight loss blogs for months before starting this journey). Maybe you’ve attempted to make some changes in your life in hopes it will help shed a few pounds (I replaced one diet coke with one glass of water in the beginning). Maybe you need to lose 100 pounds and the first thing you did to start was walk up a flight of stairs (that’s how I started). Whatever you do from here on out DO NOT GIVE UP.
My weight loss portion of this journey is coming to a close soon. I started out needing to lose close to 100 pounds. 80 of them are gone. Another chapter will begin. What does that chapter look like? I have no idea but it will be a beginning of sorts. I can tell you one thing: I’m scared to take that first step but take it I will and I will never give up.
Someday you’re going to tell someone taking their first step the same thing.
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Hey Tara sounds pretty awesome!
*snicker*
Thanks for letting me write this. Its important to never forget where we started. It keeps us from going back!
Thank YOU for writing it! I see more guest posts in your future…(hope you do, too!)
Tara, Tara, Tara….I sense a theme this week! Remember your comment on my blog the other day? Where you reminded me of my “beginning”? Yeah, that totally made me cry. Scratch that…bawl right here at my desk. I’d forgotten about that post…about that feeling. So thank you for reminding me of where I started and just how far I’ve come over these last 11 months. I love your post here and really resonates with your comment to me the other day, especially as I close in on this LCY (Life Changing Year)
I <3 you. I hope you know that!!!
Wow, what a great post! Thanks so much for sharing Tara…It is exactly what I needed to read. I still have 100 pounds to lose but have already lost 40. The last 8 months I have wanted to throw the towel in but I absolutely refuse. I have been plugging along, but what is different this time is that I have not gained the weight back! Typically I would have put everything I lost back on. Thanks for the inspiration and the great words. They could not be more true…Never Give Up!
Love it! (I must confess, I can hear Winston Churchill in my ear, saying, “nevah, nevah, nevah give up”). Every set back you’ve had has made you work harder and it’s really amazing to watch you come out of your chrysalis (only butterflies around here). ♥