Handling Discouragement and Guilt

It was discouraging this morning because my weight went up to 237. Sigh!

When I hit a moment like that, I think it is time to look back on the progress that I have made and realize that my body will catch up eventually. One encouragement is to compare how much walking I could do a few weeks ago to what I can do now. Just a few short weeks ago, I couldn't go 15 minutes without a rest. Now I can easily go 30 to 45 minutes with no rest and at a faster pace! God made such amazing bodies for us!!

The guilt is a little harder for me to handle. I tend to get caught up into "obligations" to others, even when the others are not looking at it as an obligation at all. This week, I got bummed out because I wasn't making new quilts for Wycliffe Kid Zone because I was spending so much time on me. I felt like I was letting them down.

That is the time to talk to God and ask for guidance and also go talk to a good friend or family member and work it out in your head. Lucky for me, I have a husband who is also my best friend, so I didn't have far to go for a good talk.

He helped me remember that my quilting is my hobby, not my obligation. He also helped me look more realistically at the huge changes that I am making in my life and how much of the day that consumes keeping track of the data and then analyzing it.

I also realized while talking it out that I hadn't been able to give my best to my family, friends, or my hobby because I have been so out of shape and sick. I would go to quilt class one day and then sleep most of the next day.

One thing that helps me now in my own head when I have to prioritize my weight loss is what we went through after bankruptcy a couple of years ago. We had some debts that still needed to be paid, so a lot of other things in our life went on hold until those obligations were paid off. But once the debts were paid off, we had a lot more options and have been able to do some things for our families that we couldn't do before.

It is really the same kind of thing now -- other things have to go on hold so that I can get really healthy. Then I will have the energy and resources to help others in even better ways than I have been. So goodbye to the guilt and back to work!

Report Card:

Weight:                                237                               Yuck!
Calories:                           1,465                               Good job!
Exercise:                                60 minutes
Average blood sugar:         114                               Good!