Ask DJ Lyons: Celebrate each sign of success along your path

Introduction: As you approach the end of 2010 and welcome the beginning days of 2011, let’s pause a moment to celebrate any success stories you have to share about this weight loss journey you and I are traveling.

To read the introductory stories, please read:

Ask DJ Lyons: Introducing Portion Control Kid

Ask DJ Lyons: See myself as Jesus would see me

Ask DJ Lyons: Getting down to brass tacks

Ask DJ Lyons: A Healthy way to start your day with Healthful Breakfast Muffins

As you approach the end of 2010 and welcome the beginning days of 2011, let’s pause a moment to celebrate any success stories you have to share about this weight loss journey you and I are traveling.

What is meant by this statement?

I imagine that if you have been struggling with trying to reach or maintain a healthy weight, you have had days when you are less-than-proud of your food choices and portion sizes. Alternatively, there must be those days or even part of a day where you have reason to pat yourself on the back for making wiser choices.

Rather than beating up on yourself, be your own best friend, best advocate, and best cheerleader. Please share in the comment section your success anecdotes.

As a brief overview, I was stick-thin up to the age of 22. Then as I traversed the years of 22 to 52, I slowly but surely doubled my weight. I can give you chapter and verse on my reasons, excuses, and rationales. Can’t we all?!!

There have been times through the years when I became determined to lose this excess baggage. I would be successful up to a point; however, this would be short-lived. I was at least proud that I changed my tune of feeling like my extra weight was the enemy to a feeling that I loved my Rubenesque curves as they were a part of what made up me and my body temple. I was also most grateful to have a husband of two years who also celebrated my curves. He is a loving, loyal man who truly loves me at any size.

If it were not for the fact that circumstances changed so drastically in my life that I have had to re-visit what makes me – me, I may have kept on with this course and philosophy. In my case, it was discovering that my left breast harbored a 3- by 5-inch malignant lump that impacted at least one lymph node.

The year 2010 was spent traveling a breast cancer journey that entailed eight chemo sessions, a double mastectomy, 35 days of radiation, fourteen sessions of physical therapy to try to regain full mobility of my arms after surgery, and taking a five-year low-dosage chemo tablet. Thankfully, this year closes out with me being able to truthfully state that I am officially in remission aka cancer-free.

My oncologist wishes me to wait a full year before having reconstruction surgery in order to make certain that the breast cancer does not return. I lost seventeen pounds during chemo since I was rarely hungry and couldn’t taste my food when I was hungry. Since completing radiation, I lost an additional eleven pounds through portion control and striving to follow the food pyramid diet plan. That gives me a year to safely lose an additional fifty pounds.

So what success stories can I celebrate?

There is the biggest success story of all of being a breast cancer survivor. There is the success story where I have gained a new dose of compassion and comprehension for other people having to go through a cancer journey of their own. There is the success story of learning that the world is a really wonderful place and that God is truly an entity upon whom I can safely and trustingly lean.

The next stage is being grateful that I am in the process of learning that it is finally safe to let go of that extra insulation that I have built up through the years. I am thankful that I am discovering that it is truly safe to be slender.

I’m not quite certain what being slender will gain me. That is a future lesson that I can discover when that day finally arrives.

What about you? Why do you wish to lose the weight? What do you visualize your life to be like when you reach that magical number that you have determined you wish to reach and maintain?

I do know that I do not wish to have fake breasts attached to fat. That is one of my strongest motivations. My next strongest motivation is that I want to do everything I can to remain healthy and agile for the rest of my life. I would prefer not to travel another cancer journey. Therefore, I visualize that reaching my goal weight of 130, an ideal weight for someone who is five feet three inches tall, will vouchsafe me an extra guarantee or feeling of assurance that cancer will not need to touch me again.

The thought of being able to purchase a new wardrobe of smaller-size clothes is an extra enticement. My parents and siblings will be proud. I feel confident that my husband will still love me and find me attractive. I know I will have a great feeling of accomplishment.

Beyond that, I am not really certain how my life will change. Since my route to losing weight is through a lifestyle change rather than a specific diet, that will mean I will simply continue doing more of the same. I will continue to strive to incorporate consuming more good calories than bad, eating more healthy food and less junk food, and being more active rather than sitting around and being lazy.

I am finding that while traveling this weight loss path, it is important to address each mile and each day as it comes. Yesterday, I can celebrate that I only had one piece of chocolate pie at the buffet rather than giving in to having a second piece. I can also celebrate that last night, I chose to eat raw carrots while my husband enjoyed a piece of dark chocolate.

Today, I can’t exactly celebrate that I had two pieces of chocolate cake rather than one; however, I can perhaps celebrate that I did not go back for a third piece.

I am grateful that it is getting easier and easier to find ways to add more vegetables and fruit to my diet. I actually crave them now and feel let down if I can’t have at least some each day.

When giving in to having comfort food tonight, I had three cups of hazelnut cappuccino made with 1% milk rather than making a visit to Dairy Queen to have a milkshake. I found myself feeling totally pampered and indulgent by having that third cup rather than my usual two-cup limit.

In the past, any weight loss efforts did not last when it became about what I perceived to be punishment and deprivation. With a lifestyle change, I am allowing myself to have dessert when I feel so inclined as long as I fulfill the daily food pyramid eating plan of consuming grains, vegetables, fruits, oils, milk and milk products, and foods fitting the meat and beans category.

Given that I lost 2 ½ pounds this past week and two pounds the week before, I must be doing something right. So, I celebrate those pounds lost. I am grateful that my body seems to be responding to my efforts to eat a healthier diet. I am also happy to know that the year 2011 will require less visits to the doctor and more days of looking, feeling, and being healthy. I pray that the year 2011 will be a healthier and happier year for you and yours as well.

USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory

My Food-A-Pedia

Spark Recipes Calculator

How to Exercise in 30 Minutes or Less by Leigh Crews

My Pyramid.gov – Steps to a Healthier You

What happens to food you eat?

Get the Dish: A Visual Guide to Food Portions

Calculate your Body Mass Index

Explore the Food Guide Pyramid