I started this journey many years ago, and through many ups and downs, I am almost to goal weight. I have set myself a new big goal, and that is to walk a marathon and a half, almost 40 miles, in October. It is a fundraising event for Breast Cancer Research, so I am very excited to be a part of it. In order to be ready, I am:

-Trying to do as many long training walks on Saturdays as I possibly can.
-Trying to watch even more carefully what I eat. This does not mean that I ...

I started this journey many years ago, and through many ups and downs, I am almost to goal weight. I have set myself a new big goal, and that is to walk a marathon and a half, almost 40 miles, in October. It is a fundraising event for Breast Cancer Research, so I am very excited to be a part of it. In order to be ready, I am:

-Trying to do as many long training walks on Saturdays as I possibly can.
-Trying to watch even more carefully what I eat. This does not mean that I won't eat a cheeseburger from time to time, it does mean that I am looking more and more at less processed foods, even if I have to make them myself.
-Seriously considering attempting to remember to wear a pedometer again. LOL!
-Blogging about the event and my progress here and on my Walk page.
-Appreciating my friends and family more and more as I go along.

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Where I Was, and Where I am Going to....

When I was starting to get serious about losing weight, I posted on this page a list of reasons that I wanted to lose weight. Some of those reasons were silly, some very, very serious. But now that I am a little further along in my journey to better health, I thought that it would be fun to re-visit those reasons that I wanted to get healthier and lose weight in the first place. To “take a tally” of where I am with them, so to speak. So here you go….

1. I want to teach my children to live a healthy lifestyle. By example. **My older son joins in the fun sometimes, he is too young to be very serious about it, but at least I have gotten his attention.**
2. I want to inspire my husband to take better care of himself. **He is making a conscious effort to eat more fruit! How awesome is that!! **
3. I want to avoid extra health problems wherever I can. **Really, this isn’t something that you can tick off, but I do feel healthier overall.**
4. I need to show God respect by taking care of the body He gave me to use. **Doing better at this**
5. I want to treasure the health God gave me, which is a great gift. **See #3.**
6. I want to wear my "little clothes" again. **I am down to a medium in many clothes, a large from time to time and a small once in a blue moon.**
7. I want to go shopping for even smaller clothes than those. **I actually bought an 8 that fit well, which is still weird to me. I haven't been an 8 since I was 10.**
8. I want to feel like I look good naked. **Better, but not there. Beginning to work on toning up to improve this.**
9. I want to turn heads. **Good grief, I am a female in a man’s business. I do that just by being there. But now, I am not paranoid when they do it, my confidence is going back up!!**
10. I want to be comfortable in a bathing suit. Or anything else that I wear. **Um. Well, I am not there yet, but I am comfortable enough in different clothes that it is fun to try on new clothes again.**
11. I want to be able to go up and down the stairs. Very quickly. Without wheezing. Even in allergy season. **I can go up the stairs without wheezing under most conditions. We are still working on the “very quickly in allergy season.”**
12. I want the towel to wrap all of the way around me. **It really fits all the way around me now.**
13. I want my old flexibility back. **I am becoming much more flexible again.**
14. I want my old strength back. **I am regularly strength training again. Progress is slow but it is there!**
15. I want my old endurance back. **I am making good progress by slowly amping up my workouts.**
16. And then some, if possible. **Still to come!**
17. I want that stupid little "maintaining" banner on my page. **Yep, it is there, I am excited!**
18. I want to help others find the way to better health, too. **I hope that I am doing this. I treasure every comment and goodie, there are some awesome and sweet people on SP, I hope that I help them as much as they help me!!**
19. I want to run without my thighs brushing together. **I haven't noticed them rubbing together, I am going to call this "goal met".**
20. I want for my mother to quit giving me "that worried look." **She told me last time she saw me that I look great!**
21. I want to prove that I can. **Done!!**
22. If I don't run a marathon, I want it to be because I don't want to, and not because I can't. **I don't know about running a marathon, but I have signed up to walk a marathon and a half in October, and I don't think that I will have any problem being ready for it.**
23. I want to be able to sneer at those Hydroxycut & Nutri-System commercials because I did it without that trash. **I guess this was a silly reason, I sneer at them anyway. LOL**
24. I want to have tons of energy! **I do have more energy than I did, getting enough sleep is a challenge, and impedes my energy levels. Something I am still working on.**
25. I want to see my muscles again, currently they are hidden beneath a layer of flab. **My muscles are slowly starting to peek out. I can see my biceps, I can feel the muscles in my thighs. I can see my abs some, although my baby pooch is still there, it is getting smaller.**
26. I am worth it!! I am worth it!! I am worth it!! **Second that motion!!**

And some extra added bonuses:
-My high heels don't hurt anymore. Like, at all. I didn't know the extra strain my weight was apparently putting on my feet.
-I can cross my legs under a table.
-My stretch marks are fading much more than they ever did before. NOT being stretched out obviously helps!!
-My nails are stronger than before, I think because I am eating a lot more nutritiously than I used to.
-My face is looking a lot thinner.
-More to come!

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Demi's Tips for Getting Started Losing Weight!

I have had several people ask, so here they are:

-Start slowly. Yes, this is a lifestyle change. That does not mean you have to change your whole lifestyle all at once. Pick one or two habits that need work, (tracking nutrition, exercising 10 minutes a day, eating fruits and veggies, getting enough water or sleep, or whatever) and concentrate on them. When those habits feel "normal" to you, then add on another one to work on.

-Work toward consistency, not perfection. No one is perfect. Get over it, learn from it, and move on.

-Whenever possible, identify problem areas & triggers, and take steps to fix them.

-As you add healthier habits, incorporate them into your life instead of the other way around. If it isn't something you can do long term, as in, for the rest of your life, try to find a way to adapt it so that you can. Usually, giving up chocolate and potato chips for the rest of your life doesn't really work. Instead, plan for small amounts within your calorie range. You might find that it isn't as hard to resist them if you don't feel like you have to completely avoid them.

-Consider breaking your bigger goals down to mini-goals of 5 or 10 pounds. It is very motivating to reach a goal every month or every other month, it also isn't nearly so overwhelming!

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Love you all, thank you to everyone working hard to make Spark such a great place to be!!
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Read More About DEMIKIT (Updated October 29)

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