I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 27 years, disabled daughter, college-aged son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!I've got a longer post planned for tomorrow, since that is a major milestone for me financially, but this morning I hit a personal milestone that I just wanted to share outside my family. Today I hit a weight I have not seen since 2021 around this time. In a lot of ways it reminds me of building my first emergency fund of $1000. And then to have to spend it on an emergency and then to have to build it all over again.
To be honest, I wasn't sure I was ever going to see this weight again just like I wasn't ever sure I could ever build that fund back. I mean, in the course of things, it's 23 pounds lost since the beginning of the year, but it is a barrier that has been crossed. Instead of the middle number on the scale being above a 5 it is now a 4 and that is a major psychological boost going forward. And I did get that fund rebuilt, faster than I had expected, because this time I had a bigger reason. The numbers hadn't lied to me in either case and I had numbers I was striving for. Seeing them was fantastic.
It is a boost I've needed. Honestly, the days creep along and you feel you are going nowhere, but I have been. It's been 14 weeks and I've lost 23 pounds. That's an average of 1.6428 pounds a week, which is well under what it is safe for me to lose, according to my doctor. I want to lose 2 pounds a week. Dropping it to 45g of carbs, I lost 3 pounds this week. I might have to alternate days at 60 with days at 45, because I don't want to go so fast my skin isn't absorbed by my body. Last week I was too lazy to make veggies and my weight didn't really move much. It's a tight rope walking act and I have to not only walk on the rope, I also have to carry the balance bar.
Just like with finances. You have to have the budget, but then you have to follow through on it with it on paying your bills, keeping your emergency fund intact, and following your spending and saving plans. I don't know when I will ever get my Emergency Fund back up above $20K. I know that the bathroom rebuild will have to come first, though. We won't hit financial ruin or anything, we'll pause if we need to. I won't drop it below one month's income for anything.
As for the rest, I have put my body and my diet and my blood sugar firmly on the front burner, because leaving it on the back burner for everyone else come first as long as I did, nearly sent me down the path to death. I have to be selfish enough to take care of myself well, so that I can be here to help other people learn to take care of themselves to the best of their abilities.
April 9th, 2023 at 02:54 pm 1681052068
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It's so satisfying when you lose weight and can keep it off. That's the key. I lost 32 pounds in a year starting in July 2021. While I did gain back 10 pounds over the late fall and winter, I'm losing it again--and it was enough that, even with the re-gain, I stayed in "ONEderland" for an entire year. And absolutely, health comes first!
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