I know, December 2nd is a crazy time to begin a journey towards clean eating, weight loss and living a healthy life.  Most people would have waited, enjoyed the month and made a start come January 1st....but not me. I didn't want to wait. I didn't want to give myself another 31 days worth of opportunity to overeat and pile on the pounds. So, December 2nd I weighed in for my official starting weight.

I am so glad that I made that decision, that I took the plunge and committed to living a healthy life through December. For the most part, I made good choices with what I put on my plate and into my body. I had a game plan for the month, one that would allow me to enjoy a few days off plan but one that would get me back on track with minimal damage to whatever healthy progress I had already made by Christmas.

Here I am, a few days over a month since I made the decision to start and I've lost seven and a half pounds. I am pleased with the progress on the scale, but more than that I am pleased with the changes that have taken place within me so far.  Each week I get on that scale and see the number on the little digital screen and while a part of this journey is seeing that number go down each week, that is probably the least significant piece of information that I am using to measure the progress that I am making.

Seeing the number on the screen drop is great, but my definition of success for a healthy life has been rewritten.  No longer is it all about the number on the scale but instead its about the healthy choices that I am making day in and day out.  It's about the condition of my heart and mental health. It's about how kind I am being to myself and about the small steps of progress that I am making.  I have come to realize that I can't control that number on the scale....but what I can do is make those daily decisions that will take me towards a healthier life and ultimately a lower number on the scale.

One of my big picture goals for 2016 is to become healthier by losing weight and becoming more flexible and strong and I can say that I am on my way to moving forward in this goal.