What's Easy (and Not So Easy) About Losing Weight to Be Healthy

Losing Weight

If you've been following Mommy Knows What's Best either here on the blog or on the Facebook page, you know one thing: I talk about my weight a lot and how I want to lose it. 

If you're new to the blog, Welcome! I talk about my weight a lot and how I want to lose it, among other things of course. :)

I write (think, talk) about it so much as if it's an obsession or addiction. I mean, what woman doesn't? 

Truth is, it's neither an obsession or addiction. 

If it was one of those things, I would have lost my excess weight already and have been living a healthier (hopefully) life. But no, it's more like a promise to myself to be healthier, for my kids, for my husband, but most of all, for me. 

At a time in the year when most people's health resolutions fade away, I feel like it's important to talk about it all once more. 

Like many women, I gained too much weight when I started having kids. Three kids later, I was more than 70 lbs overweight, and that's being generous. After baby #3, I decided to take back my health and lose that unhealthy weight, because, let's face it, with too much weight comes:

• heart disease (runs in my family)
• diabetes (runs in my family)
• some cancers (runs in my family)...

That's not even the whole of it, since so much can happen to a person health-wise from being, in my case, obese. (It really hurts to say/type that, but it's true.)

Since, as you can see above, some deadly (sometimes manageable) consequences run in my blood, I decided to just start losing weight. After Baby #3 was born in March 2013, I lost nearly 30 lbs by the end of the summer. Once I became a Nutrisystem Nation Blogger in January 2014, I have lost an additional 16 lbs, for a total of 46 lbs, but I still have so far to go. Here's what I have learned and am still learning in the process. 

What is Easy about Losing Weight 

1. It's super easy to say/think/write "I'm going to lose weight to be healthy". 
2. It's easy to look into or research ways to lose weight in a healthy manner. 
3. It's easy to get all psyched when you think about the prospect of losing weight. 
4. It's easy to start a gym membership or buy fitness clothing/shoes. 
5. It's easy to find a plan and stick to it for a few weeks, maybe more. 
6. It's easy to fall back into bad habits.
7. It's easy to give up. 

Not all positive, eh? How easy is it to fall back into an unhealthy lifestyle, one to which you are so accustomed. Which brings me to... 

What is Difficult about Losing Weight

1. It can be difficult to change your current lifestyle to live a healthier lifestyle. 
2. It can be difficult taking the first step to a healthier lifestyle, which usually includes finding the time to exercise regularly. 
3. It can be difficult to lose some weight but then reach a plateau. 
4. It can be difficult to lose some weight but not see any physical results when you look in the mirror. 
5. It can be difficult to stay the course when all is looking bleak.
6. It can be difficult to break bad habits. 
7. It can be difficult to see others drop weight like it's nothing. 
8. It can be difficult to admit to yourself that you are not healthy. 
9. It can be difficult to convince with whom you live that they may need to change too. 
10. It can be difficult to avoid your bad habits. 

The thing is, I need things to get 'difficult'. Without difficulty, there is no challenge, no goals to reach. Only boredom and inconsistency can come from things that are too easy, especially when it comes to losing weight to be healthy. 

Key words: to be healthy. 

I am not doing this to be a super model or to be 'skinny' to fit in. I am not doing this to win some monetary award or to be acknowledged by some institution for weight loss. 

I want to be healthy, and since I have strayed so far from a healthy path, it's going to be difficult. 

But I'm okay with that. Bring on the challenges. I'm ready to be healthy once more. 

Tell me:   What is a healthy goal for you? Is it something that comes easy or difficult to you? How can you reach that goal? Leave a comment below! 

Healthy Weight Loss Tips

1. Speak with your doctor or health care provider before trying any methods, including simple diet and exercise, to lose weight. 
2. Track what you eat. I have lost weight just by simply tracking everything I eat, making sure I stay within the recommended calories. 
3. Walk. Walking is one of the easiest exercises to do, and all it requires is a good pair of shoes. You can walk anytime and reap the health benefits of it every day!
4. Understand that healthy weight loss may be a slow process. One to two pounds a week is considered healthy. 
5. Believe in yourself! Want to be healthy? Believe that you can do it! 

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Marissa is a stay-at-home mom who writes pregnancy and parenting articles on HubPages as ThePracticalMommy, as well as shares her motherly escapades on Mommy Knows What's Best.