Exactly a year ago yesterday, I went to Shippensburg to give a talk and had the most amazing time. When I saw some of the pictures from that day, I was appalled. In my mirror, I didn’t look like that. But. If I was honest with myself, I was tired walking across the campus. My knees ached regularly. I was out of breath going up the stairs.

I decided to start lifting and joined an adult fitness class. I’ve never liked working out, but I LOVED this class. My fitness instructors made lifting fun. I learned form and technique and had a blast. Alas, the kids’ schedules got in the way, and now I mostly go on my own. I learned more about nutrition, macro counting, and monthly measurements. Did I want it to go faster? Sure. But I knew that my 3-5 lbs a month were all I was going to get. My goal went from “lose x lbs” to “stick with this for a year.” And now, the new goal is just to make fitness part of my life. Is it my whole life? Nah.

I’ve had months where I haven’t been compliant at all. I went on vacation, went to conferences, ate birthday cake, drank way too many Tito’s and seltzers. But I would come home, reset, hit the gym. 3-4x a week. My Tiktok is all weightlifting form videos and nutrition hacks now (and cats because ).

I’ve never stuck with anything for a year. This is 24 lbs, 25 inches. It’s not Instagram sexy. It’s not “50+ lbs in 3 months!” It’s not a magic pill or shakes. It’s just a boring daily commitment to movement and trying to make good (not perfect) nutrition choices like higher protein, lower calories, less sugar. I ate carbs. Maybe I’ll lose another 20 next year but maybe not . I’m focused on what I can do now. My bench started at 20 lbs. I’m up to 75. My pitiful starting squat was body weight, and it’s now 150. Not big numbers by any gym bro’s standards, but I’m beyond thrilled.

Whenever I got frustrated with how long it took to lose weight, I’d repeat my new mantra, “The time’s gonna pass anyway. Might as well do this, right?”