Capable.

Good news on the scale this morning. I am ONE pound away from reaching my first goal weight I set for myself. ONE. POUND. AWAY. That means that I have officially lost 20 pounds. That means that I only have 11 pounds to go before I reach my "ideal" weight.

I know I've written a lot of blogs about staying positive while trying to lose weight. Well. This is another one.

I've witnessed a lot of friends (along with people I've only met via the internet) pay for countless months of gym memberships. I've seen people rid their home out of junk food and replace it with clean, healthy foods.... Sadly, I've watched a lot of these people go back to their old, unhealthy habits when they haven't seen progress quickly enough. I've been that person. I refuse to be that person again.

So what's different about this time than all of the times in the past when I've given up? Like I've said before, this has become a LIFESTYLE. It's hard to wake up every morning and wedge a workout into my already busy day, but it's even harder to start over after three months of slacking. It's hard to bypass fast food restaurants for lunch, but it's even harder to work off 800 unexpected, unhealthy calories. It's hard to cook a healthy dinner at night and not rely on a box of premade lasagna. But it's easier to go to bed satisfied and have foods working for my body and not against it.

I was chatting with my mom the other day (this is something I usually do about three times a day on average) and I told her that I wished so much that I could convey how amazing this new healthy lifestyle feels to people in the early stages of their new lifestyles. I wish I could give them a magic "auto-pilot" pill to get them through the first (and hardest) three months of their journey. So they could wake up one morning and see a difference and have everything click into place. Unfortunately, I CAN'T DO THAT. So here's what I have to say to those of you who are in that irritating "I'm not losing a single pound and I'm working so hard at this!!" phase. TRUST ME. Trust the professionals. Trust the fact that the only thing that has worked permanently for anyone EVER is being active and eating right.

I'm so excited to have lost 20 pounds as a result of sticking to a healthy regimen. I'm so excited to see more of my friends get to this point. Good luck to you all and I want you to know that even when it gets difficult, you are so capable of doing this.