When I started my journey, I never thought I would lose 200lbs. the first year. I started out only wanting to fit into my car, and walk up steps without hurting and having major body pain or being so out of breath I thought I was going into cardiac arrest. I never thought I would be able to go from an 8XL size shirt down to a 3XLT, or from a 24” neck dress-shirt collar to an 18” collar. I also never thought I'd go from a 72” waist line down to a 54/56” waistline (although, due to all the excess skin I still have, I must wear 64/65” pants, folded at the top under the belt).
I found it was the small changes that I made which brought about the biggest difference in my life. In sailing, when a ship makes a 3 degree course change, it doesn’t take long for the ship to be 100 miles from where it should have been. Who would have thought a small rudder would make such huge changes in the direction a ship could make?
Rudder Of My Eating
My eating was so bad when I first started my journey. I could easily down a 21’’ XL pizza with all the meat toppings and a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew in one sitting, while watching 2 or 3 movies. At one point, I would buy 2 - 12 packs of soft tacos from Taco Bell and do the same thing. My eating was out of control and I was killing myself. I was depressed about losing my ex-wife, family, friends, job, resigning my church, and my health. I felt like a failure, like a piece of trash discarded. I felt like I was someone who no one wanted to be with. Why would anyone want to hang out with this big‘ole fatman who could barely walk or breathe? I was just taking up space and the only comfort I found came from food, but in reality it was not a comfort but a quiet killer. My eating was steering me down a path I never wanted to go down. It was after God changed my stinking thinking that I began to make small changes.
My Small Rudder Changes
I started to eat only ¾ of the pizza, then ½, then ¼ now I don’t buy pizza like I use to. I make a healthier version using a 9” tortilla shell. I can eat the whole thing and it's only 360 calories. Also, when I started to swim for health it would only be 3 days a week for 45 minutes at a time. Then it went to 5 days a week for 45 minutes, then from 5 days a week for 100 minutes to 6 days a week for 100 minutes and an extra 45 minutes on Monday nights in the Fall through Spring. Back in June 2013, I added walking. Yep, It started with just around the block, then around 2 blocks, then the park, then the 2 blocks and the park. I have made so many adjustments or degrees of change over the years it's hard to re-account them all. Now that I am remarried, healed, made whole, and living in Oklahoma I have made NEW adjustments like finding a new gym, aquatic center, etc...
My Thot: it is the small changes, the small degrees of change over time that produce the big results. Stay Encouraged and Keep Moving Forward. Comment below and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to receive blog updates in your inbox.
Until next time grab a FREE Refill of the King's Brew @ the Soul Cafe.
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