giving it up

Confession: I'm addicted to Mt. Dew.

For those of you who've known me any length of time know that Mt. Dew is my drink of choice.  You normally won't see me without one in my hand.  As of Monday, however, that has changed.

I've gone 2 days without a Mt. Dew.

Granted, 2 days is nothing to cheer about because I've actually gone longer without it.  (The longest was 5 months while in India.  But I drank a lot of Coke & Canada Dry while there.  Oddly enough I was able to lose 40 pounds during those 5 months.  That's another story, though.)

Anyway, I've noticed that I haven't really wanted a Mt. Dew in the last couple of days.  That surprises me because I really thought I would.  My hope is that it will just get easier as time goes by, but life doesn't work that way.  Nothing in life is easy.

The one really bad thing about not drinking Mt. Dew has been the headaches.  By the end of the day, my head is pounding!!  But, I'm trusting the advice of friends and professionals that the lasting results of giving up my Mt. Dew addiction will be well worth it.  Losing weight, gaining energy, and all that.  :)

Did you have an addiction that you've given up?  What advice would you give to those of us who have decided to give up our addiction?

setbacks & failures

These Weight-Loss Wednesday posts are harder to write than I thought they would be.  Maybe it's because I'm finally being honest with myself...ouch.  Here's the honest truth:  this week I gained 4 pounds. 

Even more honest than that is I gained all 10 pounds back that I had previously lost.  What?!  Yep.  We didn't weigh-in for a week for whatever reason, so I weighed myself at home and found out that I had gained it all back.  I spent the entire week worrying about losing those 10 pounds.  Fortunately, I lost 6 of them.  But 4 remained.  Talk about failure!

But in all honesty, it's more like a setback.  If I've learned anything in the past 5 weeks it's that my Breaking Point experience is the beginning of a journey of life change.  There are no failures in this journey, just setbacks.  Yes, it's frustrating and disappointing to have gained all the weight back that was lost.  At the same time, it's encouraging because I have a goal in mind and I'm working towards that goal. 

And again, the most encouraging thing is to know that I'm not alone!  Each week my friends go with me to work out.  They're praying for me and encourage me to keep going.  My family is there, too, telling me how proud they are of me and helping me along the way. 

What have you learned this week of your life changing journey?