Sharing Blog Posts From My Weight Loss Journey: Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates

I’m sharing old blog post from my weight loss journey when I blogged on another site:

June 14, 2009

Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates

Life in general! How to handle life when it decides to throw you a curve ball?? That is the question indeed! I’ve never been a quitter. I occasionally get to a stressed out/tired point where I can feel a little down in the dumps. I usually break down and cry to digest it all. But do I quit? Never. I’m generally a very positive person. I have trouble seeing the negative in most situations.

Lately staying positive has been tough. My work schedule has been completely turned upside down and I’m feeling stressed!! This is only the beginning. We have many months to go before we can get the new staff trained, up to speed, and out on their own. So what does that mean for the rest of us? A hell of a lot of work hours!!! 

On average right now my work week is 5 days long. What?? I thought everybody worked 5 days? I am a police dispatcher. So we are now working four 12-hour shifts and one 10-hour shift each week. Then we rotate the remaining shifts left to be covered and we all work another sixth 10 or 12-hour shift every other week. 

Stressed! That is the best word to describe it. That and tired. 

My day starts at 2am. The alarm goes off and I make myself get up without hitting snooze. I’ve got my routine down now where I’ve got enough time to shower, get ready, and make my breakfast while also making and packing my lunch and snacks. I couldn’t be successful to my WW journey if I do not plan and stay on track. I just don’t know how people do it without planning and preparation! I get to work about 3:45am and work until 4pm. If Kenyon is home we get to spend some time together where I get in my exercise before I go to bed. If he isn’t home I have dinner ready to go when he gets home about 7:15pm. We have dinner and then it is bed time – 8pm!!! I cannot allow myself to stay up any later than 8pm as I’ve got to get up at 2am the following morning and start all over again. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. 

So what does this all mean you ask?? It means the scale right now is suffering!!! How bad? Not as bad as I could be. I’ve realized two things.

One, I need to not use my work and being tired as an excuse to not follow the program or continue with my weight loss journey. Two, I need to not be so hard on myself. Weight loss is very mental or me. And when I gain at the scale knowing I’ve not strayed at all from the program or eaten anything out of the ordinary, it sends my mind into a tailspin! I’m trying to figure out what happened. Well you know what, life happened! This is what happens in life and once I’m over this hurdle I’ll be back onto the downward trend I’d like to see on the scale.

WW is a lifestyle change. It is not a diet. You’ve heard this before?? So what is it going to take to believe it??? If I was just dieting and had not changed my lifestyle do you know how easy it would be to say, “Ahhh I don’t have time. I’ll just get Burger King!” Meanwhile several hundred calories later (after all who gets a burger and not French fries??) I can’t seem to figure out why I’m gaining! Who knew all that stuff I used to eat really was “bad” for me??  

I have to keep moving forward. If that means I maintain my weight loss for the next six months until things at work improve – sure! If I maintain I am that much better off then saying, “I just can’t do it” and gaining back what I will then have to lose again. 

Whoever is reading this – I hope it helps. I hope it helps you to understand that life is what it is. Life will run smoothly, rough at times, and also stressful at times. It is the strength you have to pick yourself up, dust off, and keep going that proves you can overcome it. You can move forward even when it feels like that big ‘ol bag of chocolate sitting here at work looks like the answer. It isn’t the answer. And unwanted calories that could cause a gain at the scale isn’t going to help me out either. 

So I keep moving forward and I do the very best I can while keeping my head up and my eyes focused forward. As the old saying goes, “This too shall pass!”