Now is the Time. This is the Year.

Post by Jamie Wood

I am not healthy. I am not what I want to be. I am unhappy with my appearance and it makes me less of who I should be. Nobody wants to admit this.

Now is the time. This is the year.

I am a wife, mom of two crazy little boys, an entrepreneur, a friend, a sister, a daughter and I work a 40 hour/week job. Busy is a word you could use to describe me. Fat is also a word you could use. Sure, there are people who are bigger than me, unhealthier than me. Truth is, I used to use that as an excuse. I am not the fattest, I am not the biggest size in the store, I am still able to walk and jog and play with my kids. But now, that is not enough. I deserve better. I deserve my best.

Now is the time. This is the year.

I had my first son 6 years ago. I gained 50 pounds when I was pregnant with him. I lost 20 of that before getting pregnant with my second son 2 ½ years later. Add those 20 plus 10 more and I am 60 pounds heavier than I was before having kids. That was another excuse. This body carried and gave birth to two strapping boys. Sure, it did. That is a fact. But it didn’t need the extra tonnage to do so. In fact, I developed gestational diabetes while pregnant with my second son. I was told to lose weight and stay healthy after having him to lessen my chances of developing diabetes later in life. Have I done that? No.

Now is the time. This is the year.

I have made some big changes since beginning this journey. It is week three for me. Three weeks without my daily Dr. Pepper. Three weeks of counting calories. Three weeks of snacking on grapes and carrots and healthy stuff instead of chocolate, chips and other bad things. I have been good. But you know what? Good is not good enough. I can do better. In order to be where I want to be, I need to do great. I replaced Dr. Pepper with sweet tea. Is it a better choice? Yes. Is it the best choice? No.

Now is the time. This is the year.

My wish is that each and every one of us who reads this blog and makes this commitment can look back one year from now and know that they have done their very best. Not just good...their very best. Anything less than the best is sabotage. It is called self-sabotage. And I am good at that.

But this is the year I get good at becoming the me I know I can be.