This is the year of a new lifestyle! No New Year's resolution change!
We kicked off 2017 with a fantastic New Year's Eve celebration. Following a tradition of eating bratwurst and black-eyed peas for good luck on New Year's Day. After a tumultuous 2016, we were eager to bid it farewell and welcomed the new year with open arms, looking forward to adopting a new lifestyle. We were excited to make some changes and decided that instead of setting a strict dieting resolution, like making sure the house was always clean! Does anyone ever truly stick to their resolutions?
We had recently sold our house in Connecticut and decided to rent a house until we could find the perfect area. Finding a house to rent with 4 Dogs is NOT easy!!! We were also very stressed trying to sell our house in Connecticut. Lucky for us, we had the rare opportunity to decide WHERE in the world we wanted to live.
Looking back
To take you back. . . Sue was hired by a financial company in late 2014. We were relocated from Maine to Connecticut. We bought a beautiful new house and adopted Elvis (dog #4). In April of 2015 (yep, 5 months later), the company decided to disband and was laying off the majority of its employees in 2016. The company offered to help us sell our house and to relocate us. Amy was in a majorly stressful job at the time, so once the house sold, she quit her job. We look at this as an opportunity to get a new start and really contemplate what we want to do to be happy truly. The Cincinnati, Ohio, area seemed like it would be perfect because the economy was pretty good. It was closer to Joshua (Sue's son - Amy's brother).
We had so much fun over Christmas and New Year that Josh decided to move in with us for a few months. He didn't know what he was getting into by moving in with his mom and sister. It was going to be a new lifestyle for him!! His New Year's resolution was to focus on being happy. Josh has PTSD from his time in the military, so this is the year for him to feel happy again.
We thought it snowed some in the Cincinnati area. . . it didn't, and we are bummed about that. I mean, how is Amy ever going to knock the dust off of those snow shoes she HAD to have? While living in Maine, Amy thought she would suddenly be "outdoorsy" when we moved there, and Snowshoeing seemed like a great idea at the time! Snowshoes aside, we're giving the Cincinnati area ONE more winter, and, if it doesn't snow, we might need to move to NE Ohio or Michigan, where I'm pretty sure it snows, OR sell Amy's snowshoes (if she can part with them)!
January 2017 and why we really decided to change our lifestyle
In early January, we started to look for jobs and had several interviews. In the past, interviews were usually not that difficult for either of us. We love to talk and are very comfortable around people. Now, interviews are really uncomfortable since the suit jackets don't even come close to buttoning. Sitting in an intense interview was difficult enough trying to answer the interview questions, let alone worrying that the zipper might pop at any point in time. I was in one interview and kept picturing a button flying off and pinging around the room, hoping it wouldn't take an eye out! I'm wondering if it did pop off, would they still give me the job?!?!
Not that this happened to me. But just picture sitting down and the lining for your skirt rips. . . do you realize the sound that makes. . . I mean, would it make, it if it WASN'T me?!?!?!
I broke down and bought an even larger size outfit for the next interview, thinking I would feel better if it fit better. It was still uncomfortable, plus the mental frustration I couldn't get around wearing a size that was bigger than ever!
Neither of us felt good about ourselves. We were eating more and finding that even our sweatshirts were starting to get tight. Not cool. When stretch pants aren't comfortable, you know it's time to make changes.
Breaking out of the box
Weight too us doesn't matter. Even though I was frustrated with my dress size, it was more of a frustration with how I felt, not the size of the dress. I mean, I don't think my skin can stretch anymore!!! Who doesn't want to feel good and live a healthier lifestyle? We were in an out-of-control spiral of eating and even drinking too much. It was time to take control of our lives. Not let a job or other people define us. We needed to get back to owning our lives and get back to being Amy and Sue. It's not healthy or fun to always try to be what others want us to be. We are going to be who we are deep inside, not fit into a box. . .
We are starting to live life now as if there is no box. Plus, we have a lot of really cute clothes we want to wear again.
Analyzing what we are eating
We spent a few weeks analyzing our lifestyle. We started by looking at what we were eating and drinking. I mean, we ate things like sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast, Taco Bell for lunch, and a large serving of something meat and, of course, bread loaded with butter. For dinner, we had to have wine and maybe a Martini (if it was Friday). That was just one day!!!
During the month of January, we started to look at what we were eating and tried to understand why we were eating and drinking so much. Most of the time, we weren't even hungry. We were eating because it was that time of the day.
Our Journey begins
For us, 2017 is the year to focus on our lifestyle, to get back to true Belly Laugh Living, and to share our journey with the world in hopes of helping others.
Some other posts focused on our weight loss story:
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