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Six months ago, I issued a challenge to myself: lose my last thirty pounds by my birthday. Well, my birthday has come and gone in a fondue-soaked haze of cheese and chocolate and I’m facing the fact that I only got about 1/3 of the way to my goal. So, as I head into the next year of my life with these last twenty pounds clinging stubbornly to my ass, the question becomes: what now?
Well, lots of things. First, I need to set a new goal to reach the end-zone. But before I pick a new date, I also need to talk a hard look at the last six months and see what the detours were that caused me to not arrive at my weight destination. What worked, what didn’t, what do I need to do more of, what do I need to do less of (and eat less of, for that matter). I also need to re-evaluate my expectations: everyone knows the last twenty is harder to lose than any of twenties before that, so I can’t beat myself up when weight comes off slower or expect that what worked before is going to work now. Basically, I need to toss out the map that got me this far and chart a new path.
But while I didn’t quite get to the finish line (geez, how many of these fucking analogies can I jam into one column?), the last 24 weeks was a success in a lot of other ways. In that very first column I wrote “Why? Why am I subjecting myself to likely internet ridicule? Well, maybe writing about some of those bumps in the road will help me stay on track, and maybe it will even help one or two of you at the same time, which would be a great side benefit on top of finally being able to wear a strapless dress. ” And while there was plenty of ridicule, I also heard from a bunch of you that I inspired you. Which was amazing, but even more amazing was how you inspired me with your stories, your advice, and sometimes even your mockery. So, really and truly, thank you. Plus, I did drop enough that I can now wear a strapless dress. Small wins, my friends, small wins.
Sadly, though, I am going to need to stop writing about this journey weekly. I start a new job (!!!) soon, and I’m just not sure I can commit time-wise to another weekly piece on top of my ever-popular Five People That Had A Worse Weekend Than You. While that’s the main reason, there’s also a little part of me that wonders if putting my weekly results out there for public consumption could be one of the reasons for my stall. Maybe that kind of pressure just doesn’t work for me. Maybe this journey needs to be a little bit more private for me to be successful. Or maybe I need to think/write about it less and do more.
But rest assured my friends: even though we’ve come to the end of the weekly road, I’m really not abandoning the quest to finally lose these last 18.9 pounds. I just won’t be writing about it regularly, but I’ll pen an occasional update now-and-again, and you can still keep up with me on MyFitnessPal or Fitbit. After all, although we’ve come to the end of the road, still I can’t let go, it’s unnatural, you belong to me, I belong to you. But hopefully these final few pounds will stop belonging to me soon..
Starting weight to Lose: 30 pounds
Week 1 Results: – 1.1 pounds
Week 2 Results: – 2.1 pounds
Week 3 Results: +0.4 pounds
Week 4 Results: – 0.2 pounds
Week 5 Results: – 0.2 pounds
Week 6 Results: – 0.1 pounds
Week 7 Results: -0.9 pounds
Week 8 Results: 0.0 pounds
Week 9 Results: -0.5 pounds
Week 10 Results: -0.6 pounds
Week 11 Results: 0.0 pounds
Week 12 Results: – 0.2 pounds
Week 13 Results: -0.1 pounds
Week 14 Results: No weigh in
Week 15 Results: – 2.3 pounds
Week 16 Results: +0.6 pounds
Week 17 Results: – 0.2 pounds
Week 18 Results: -0.1 pounds
Week 19 Results: 0.0 pounds
Week 20 Results: – 2.4 pounds
Week 21 Results: No weigh in
Week 21 Results: + 0.1 pounds
Week 22 Results: -0.2 pounds
Week 23 Results: – 0.6 pounds
Week 24 Results: -0.4 pounds
Remaining weight to lose: 18.9 pounds
If you want to follow along with me, friend me on MyFitnessPal or FitBit!
Image via Shutterstock
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Jenna Crowley
Jenna used to be known as 2NOTBrokeGirls, but then one of the girls actually went broke, so she's struck out on her own. Jenna spends her free time saving the world, one sorority girl at a time (usually while wearing yoga pants), questioning why she decided to get a doctorate, documenting her love of all things cheese related, and hosting the new PGP podcast Don't Take It From Us. You can ask her anything you want about football, using your boobs to get what you want, and pizza at @JennaLCrowley on Twitter or via email at JennaLCrowley@gmail.com.
@JennaLCrowley
@donttakeitfromus
Hopefully you reach your goal. I would recommend eating more salads, fish, and chicken breast and less pancakes and ice cream, but that’s just me.
I like this series. But you are selling yourself short.
Super congrats to you for losing weight. It’s not easy by any means. But, stop paying a dietitian money to lose less than half a pound a week. You’re wasting your money. You can do what you’ve done so far and much better on your own.
I know it’s harder to lose weight as a woman but paying to lose at the rate you are is criminal. You’re either consuming too much or not exercising enough. You don’t need to pay someone to tell you that.
Keep it up! Healthy lifestyle feels much better than an unhealthy one.
Shouts to Big T-shirt Matt on becoming a dad
Try violently intense conditioning workouts (sleds, sledgehammers, loaded carries, boxing, etc)
Kettlebells, hill sprints, Navy SEAL training
Or deploy herself into an active war zone with nothing but a knife to kill terries and then devour their mangled corpses. But that’s just what I do if I need to lose those last couple pounds!
Nothing burns calories like making the grass grow
I really enjoyed this series & am stunned by your commitment to your weight loss goals. You inspired me to start getting on track to shed the 20lbs that have been haunting me for the last 2 years. I downloaded the app Lifesum which has been INCREDIBLE in tracking my calorie intake (my biggest struggle thus far) and I’m down 8lbs in 6 weeks! Keep it up and looking forward to hearing the updates
Good luck going forward. Tbh it’s probably not a bad idea to stop talking about it publicly.
There’s this theory that publicly announcing your goals actual makes you less likely to accomplish them. Reason being that once you announce the goal itself, you already receive the social satisfaction of completing the goal without actually doing anything. I found that to be true for me anyway (quitting smoking, losing weight, passing exams, etc).
Just a thought!
That Boyz II Men song gets me every damn time.
I follow you on twitter and was wondering about the job. I case the worst happened I didnt want to ask. I am so happy you got it; congrats! You seem like this is something you have wanted
I’ve enjoyed reading this series, and congratulations on making it to where you are now. You’re getting there.
Best of luck Crowley, rooting for you