Why Wait? Do It Now!

Today is September 24, 2016 and we in the Dave Deters' family refer to this as birthday season.  It starts with Dave's birthday in September, then Jessica and Patty in October, toss in our Anniversary in October also, add Ben's birthday in November and Joe's birthday in December.  Then on top of that we have Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Since moving to Grand Junction in August of 2003, I have consistently put on 10 pounds every "birthday season."  No lie!  I even have some photos to show the awful progression.  Part of this reason is because for about 20 years prior to moving to Grand Junction, Dave and I had been in an educational setting and we just had to show up at the dining room for our meals.  But when we moved to Grand Junction, it was time for me to really learn how to cook.  Obviously I didn't do very well with that.  But that is all changing now.

2003

2004

2005

2007

2006

2008

2009

2010

2013 (conveniently hiding myself)

2015 (right when I started NLP)

The 2015 photo was taken in August of 2015.  I began working out daily with the NLP program in August of 2015.  From August 2015 to January 2016 I gained zero weight.  I did not lose weight, but I did not gain 10 pounds.  This year from August 2016 to January 2017, I hope to lose at least 10 pounds.  But it is a decision and that decision is made daily.

I have learned a lot these past 9 months about nutrition and exercise.  I have a great support network of people to share/swap recipes with and I have a trainer (through NLP) that i can check things with.  Back in August I would go to one NLP class a day and then I would walk.  When I started, walking to the mailbox and back was difficult.  But I did it - almost daily.  Then I expanded to around the block.  Then Dave and I would walk the neighborhood.  And now I walk to the school and back (about 2 miles) when I need to.  I know a lot of the neighbors this way, and they encourage me along the way.  

So if you are like I was - gaining weight every holiday season (or Birthday season as we refer to it), why not start now!  Why not make 2016 the year you don't gain 10 pounds or whatever your number may be.  Get out and walk.  Get to the gym.  Whatever works for you.  I loved and still love my Fitbit.  When I was first starting a year ago, I asked all of my family members that owned Fitbits if they would participate in step challenges with me and encourage me along the way to meet my step goal.  At first my step goal was 5000 steps a day and that was difficult for me.  Now - most days I can reach 10,000 steps without hardship.

We have yet to take a 2016 holiday photo but most likely we will use one of these from May.  I can already see a difference and I plan to have my next ten years of photos showing the weight progression decreasing instead of increasing.  As always thanks for reading and thanks for encouraging me.  I always knew this would take longer than one year and it's friends like you that encourage me that help me stay at it with a positive attitude.