The Year In Review

Since it is January 2nd, 2012 (feels strange typing that!) I think it's fitting to turn my Week In Review into a Year In Review.  I can definitely say that 2011 brought ups and downs that I never expected.

To begin with, I thought I'd be done with my journey by now.  I started blogging in April or May I think, and I'm still not done.  I realize that losing weight takes time, but I am definitely going in slow mode.  However, over the course of the last year, I've learned to be o.k. with that.  I might be doing it slowly, but at least I'm doing it.

I started off being a food tracking fool, but I've kind of slacked at that over the last few weeks.  My food choices haven't been horrible, but it's definitely an area that I need to improve.  That being said, my food choices have definitely gotten better over the year.  Before I started blogging, it was pretty much a given that I would have one day of eating complete garbage, just to reward myself for a week of hard work.  However, over the course of the year, I haven't done that.  I haven't even wanted to do that.  To me, that marks some good progress in my thinking.

I guess the next big thing that happened over the last year was my new found dedication at the gym.  I was going about 3 days a week.  Now, I'm there 5 or 6 days a week.  The extra rowing classes offered have definitely made a difference in my attendance.  I also have been doing a little less of my Step class and a little more Spinning.  That's probably something that will carry over into this year.  I'm finding that Step is starting to  bother my knee a bit, so I might cut that down to once a week.

However, I think the biggest change this year was the addition of a trainer... and all that came along with that.  For starters, I worked myself harder, physically, than I ever have before.  I've seen muscles that I haven't seen  before.  I've gotten stronger and am able to do more now than I could when I started.  The mental stuff, that's what I didn't see coming...

I've had to address issues that I didn't want to address.  I've had to re-visit feelings that I didn't want to re-visit.  I've had to let my guard down when I didn't want to let it down.  I've had to step out of my comfort zone and trust someone else.  Now, since I haven't worked with him in a month, I haven't been dealing with any of this lately.  However, I'm starting my training again next week, so I imagine I'm not done dealing with this stuff.  Time will tell.

Overall, my journey over the last year has taught me a lot. I think I've come out of 2011 a lot stronger and more determined to finish what I started.  I've come out of 2011 realizing that putting up those walls didn't help me at all.  It was only after that wall came crashing down that I was able to start dealing with the reasons why it went up in the first place.  I still have a long way to go.  I still have more obstacles that are going to get in my way.  But, I'm ready.  Bring on 2012!