Week 6 Check-In: Losing Weight is Not a Race, It's a Marathon

This week I'm at a 16 lb weight loss and proud of it! Another 1 lb gone, never to return again. Sure, I'd love to lose 5 lbs a week but reality is -- it's just too hard and unhealthy. I don't have the time and energy to devote to exercising daily and starving myself. So on my 100 lb journey, I'm taking it slow and fitting it into my lifestyle.

I haven't lost a whole dress size yet, but I'm starting to feel better in my clothes. Instead of being tight, they are getting roomy ... and I like it.

This week's zinger was I got sick. A bad cold or virus, who knows which, but I felt like hell. There was this kind of buzzing in my whole body that said, "I ain't well," the head was clogged like a sink and fluids drained from all the orifices. Then toward the later stages of the illness, it went into my lungs -- I had to prop myself up at night because of breathing difficulties, suffered a bad cough and sneezing, and talked like Miss Froggy.

The good news is I didn't feel much like eating, but I still didn't lose much weight, probably because of the counter-balancing lack of exercise.

It's times like this that you just have to plain old take care of yourself, like a good Mommy would. I nurtured myself by prying me away from my worldly commitments, taking a day off from work and weekend, snoozing in the day time to give my body a chance to heal, turning on a humidifier that blew in my face, slurping soups, taking meds and vitamins, and drinking lots of warm and cozy tea.

This experience reminded me that losing weight is not a race but a marathon where you have to pace yourself in order to complete the journey. This week was my rest stop. Hopefully next week, I'll start moving again with renewed vigor.