SHARING A BLOG: MY JOURNEY–ONE DAY AT A TIME by Rachel

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IMG_3421Happy thanksgiving friends,

I have made some wonderful friends in blog land and wanted to introduce them to you. I will be sharing three blogs of my favorites. So watch for them and feel free to subscribe to their blogs as well. It will encourage them in their weight struggles and it will bless you to encourage others.

My friend, Rachel (22 years old) has lost 28 pounds with the help and support of Weight Watchers. She started her journey at 318. I choose to share her post because of her good advice about the Thanksgiving meal. It helped me, so I thought you could benefit as well. She also shared about some of her family issues. We all have them, don’t we?  Pray for her to have a successful Thanksgiving. I have become emotionally attached to her story Please feel free to subscribe to her blog. It will encourage her as well as you. Pray for her too. You’ll have to check it out to get her recipes for a Weight Watchers Pumpkin Pie that’s 5 PointsPlus per piece and a Weight Watchers Strawberry Banana Pie that’s 4 PointsPlus per piece. ( http://wwwmyjourneyonedayatatime.wordpress.com)

I hope you enjoy reading my guest blogs as much as I do. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!  Deborah 

From: My Journey–One Day at a Time
Date: November 21, 2014 at 3:16:32 PM CST
To: debbiejean2010@att.net
Subject: [New post] 289.6
Reply-To: “My Journey–One Day at a Time”

289.6
by rachaelxoxo
Starting Weight: 318.2 lbs.
Weight Last Week: 292.4 lbs.
Current Weight: 289.6 lbs.
Weekly Change: –2.8 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 28.6 lbs.

~//~

Hi, friends!

As I’m writing this post, I’m in an incredibly weird mood. I’m super emotional…. I had a bad morning.

Prior to attending my Weight Watchers meeting/weekly weigh-in, my dad and I exchanged some heated words (which shouldn’t have even happened since we were merely supposed to be having a quick chat about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday), and after calling me a few choice names (most—but not all—revolving around my weight, of course) and shouting that “it’s not like you’re getting that much skinnier” [being on Weight Watchers] to me, as well, I was in a foul mood. Half of the drive to my meeting was spent in tears (which was horribly unsafe—I definitely don’t recommend driving while crying!).

The thing is, it’s hard enough to deal with the outside opinions that I often hear—the opinions of people who I see on the street or people that I have to interact with through work or school that can’t see past what’s on the outside and refuse to assign me any value other than just the usual write off as another fat girl. It’s also tough to deal with my own voice sometimes,  too—the voice that tells me that what the rest of the world sees and thinks about me is right and that this is all a waste (this is the same voice, too, by the way, that screams at me that I should be eating pizza and double cheeseburgers when things feel this out of control since food is, of course, a great way to retain some control over my own life).

My point is, I don’t need the voices of my own family to add to the rest of the negativity. I don’t need to listen to my dad make atrocious comments and insinuate that my weight isn’t falling off fast enough. 11 weeks ago, I weighed 318.2 pounds. Today, I weigh 289.6 pounds. I think that’s actually pretty great, and, personally, I hadn’t even expected to lose this much so soon. I’m sorry that I couldn’t manage to drop 50+ pounds in 2.5 months, but it is what it is. Since all of this is coming from a man who definitely weighs more than me (and weighs more than I ever have!), I don’t think he should feel so confident in saying these things to me…

I was certain that all of that negativity was going to ruin my day, but then I arrived at Weight Watchers and saw the friendly, familiar faces that have worked hard to cheer me on for the past 11 weeks, and I felt marginally better. Then I stepped on the scale to be weighed, and suddenly the tears started flowing again for a whole new reason: I weigh 289.6 pounds. I have never, throughout the course of my “adult” life, been this weight. Ever. For the longest time, I avoided hopping on the scale to check my weight, so, to be real with you, there’s a good chance I was never even this weight as a teenager. I mean, maybe I weighed this much around age 14/15 or so, but I can’t guarantee it. What I can guarantee, though, is that from age 18 and beyond, I certainly have never been in the 280s.

This was such a milestone day for me, and I didn’t realize beforehand that it would be. I’ve been so focused on getting down to my 10% goal (which I’m now only 2.4 pounds away from, by the way!) that I didn’t even stop to think about the fact that I was entering into uncharted territory here—really exciting uncharted territory, at that!

I honestly can’t believe that I’ve done this. It’s still an absolute shock to me.

And now I’m just sort of sitting here, trying to take it all in. I’m trying to mentally deal with the half of my brain that’s still horribly upset over what my father said to me this morning and with the other half that is incredibly overwhelmed and excited over my weight loss.

It’s a strange, strange battle that’s raging between my emotions at the moment.

~//~

This Thursday, November 27, 2014, also just so happens to be Thanksgiving Day, too (for myself and all of my American friends, that is). Mixed in with the rest of the emotions I’m feeling today, a huge part of me is also feeling anxious about the upcoming holiday, too. I managed to do well on Halloween because I’m not a girl that’s big on sweets, but I’m not so sure how I’m going to fare on this holiday—the one holiday that’s entirely centered around food. Will I be able to remember to work on my portion control? Will my willpower be strong enough? Have I really learned, over the course of the past 11 weeks, to say no? Will I be able to resist the pull of my enabling family—the family that doesn’t care about my health goals and sees no problem in me overindulging as long as it’s “just one day”?

I think so. I hope so.

~//~

My goal for this week is short, sweet, and to the point: don’t overindulge on Thanksgiving! I am giving myself one rule: I can eat whatever I want, so long as it all fits on my dinner plate without touching and without being piled sky high. I get to have one plate of food—of whatever I want—as long as it’s portioned that way. If I can stick to that, I know I will be just fine. I am also making a Weight Watchers Pumpkin Pie that’s 5 PointsPlus per piece and a Weight Watchers Strawberry Banana Pie that’s 4 PointsPlus per piece. I figure I can choose a full portion of one or the other (depending on my mood), or I can have a half portion of both pies—either of which decision is a good one, I think.

That’s my plan, and if I can achieve that, I will be happy. I will be weighing-in the following day on Black Friday, and if I can somehow manage to lose 2.4 pounds by then, I’ll have officially reached my 10% goal, too.

Here’s to hoping.

~//~

I wish each and every one of you a wonderful week, and to my fellow Americans—just incase I don’t write before then—I also hope you have an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving holiday.

Eat well. Be well.

rachaelxoxo

 

(Dear Rachel, if you see this post, know that we are praying for you to have a successful happy Thanksgiving Day. Looking forward to your next post with a successful report.  Thanks for letting me share your story, Deborah)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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9 comments on “SHARING A BLOG: MY JOURNEY–ONE DAY AT A TIME by Rachel

  1. Stay strong beautiful one. You are on the right track. Saying a prayer for you Rachel

    • Thank you, fittoservegroup. We all need to pray for each other. Our focus should be on gratefulness to God for His blessings. Somewhere along, we focus got on the feast instead. The whole nation is encouraged to overeat. We are going against the grain when we don’t, but God provides our strength.

  2. Thank you so much for joining me on my journey, Deborah! I am so happy that you found my blog and that we can now walk alongside each other (so to speak) on the journeys we’ve found ourselves on. I am so happy to call you a friend, and your kindness means so much to me. Thank you for always being so willing to pray for me and encourage me in any way that you can. I admire who you are as a person, your commitment to yourself and your health, and I also admire your faith and commitment to God.

    I was very religious when I was young (I am Catholic, and I went to private Catholic school from preschool through the 12th grade), but somewhere along the line, when I entered into adulthood and ventured out on my own, I lost my way in that department. I stopped being a dedicated Catholic, and I just sort of let that part of my life fall to the wayside. You remind me that I need to re-prioritize in that department, though. You have reminded me that faith is important, especially when embarking upon such a challenging journey.

    Thank you for being so kind to me. <3

    I hope you have an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving!

    • Oh Rachel, you bring tears to my eyes with your sweet words. I feel so emotionally attached to you and i long for your success.
      Right now, I weigh exactly what i weighed in 1974 when I went to WW for the first time. I gained 20 pounds the first year of marriage. How i wish i had stayed with that program. I woulldnt have been spent years 40+ grossly overweight.
      God is our answer and only He can provide the strength we need to resist these temptations. Only He can free us from this bondage.
      Thank you again for your sweet words. I WANT YOUR SUCCESS! You have a successful victorious Thamksgiving. Know that I and others are pulling for YOU, and praying for you too!
      Now be thankful and victorious!
      You go girl!

    • You made my day

      • Thank you so much, and I am glad I was able to make your day, too! I will be thinking of you on Thanksgiving, and I’ll be remembering your rule of half! 😉 <3

        • Here’s to ya, kiddo. SMILE!!

  3. Thanks for sharing Rachel’s story, Debbie. Really touching. She gave us the gift of sharing about her pathway through life, battling with addiction to false solutions as she tries to meet real needs that only Christ Jesus can truly meet.

  4. I”ll try again. Rachel’s blog address is http://www.myjourneyonedayatatime.wordpress.com