Hey! My name is Kate Scott and I am just your average twenty something trying to live with purpose and balance. I recently lost over 20 pounds and am excited to share some of my unexpected weigh loss “wins” with you! If you want to read more about my weight loss journey, running adventures, favorite recipes, deep thoughts and day-to-day life check out my blog KateMovingForward!
In the last 6 months I have done something amazing for my health and well being—I have lost weight by healthy eating and moderate exercise. If you have been hiding in a cave for the last 10 years you may not have heard that losing even a moderate amount of weight can have an incredibly positive impact on your health by decreasing your risk of disease and improving your energy levels. It also helps if you don’t want to frighten young children at the beach this summer.
I am absolutely pumped about living longer, not getting diabetes, and looking better at the beach, but along my weight loss journey I have found so many other private and public ”wins” to losing weight!
Seeing your clothes in a new way
(New top, new jeans, old scarf, old purse)
Of course, when you lose weight you get to buy a some awesome new outfits and rock the heck out of them! But, even with a twenty pound weight loss I still have a lot of tops and dresses that still fit, but nowadays I just tend to wear differently. For example, I belt dresses now. I have recently done something I hadn’t done in years and tucked in a shirt. I’m not worried about my muffin top or sucking it in or covering it up—I actually get to use my clothes to show off what I’ve worked so hard to achieve!
Being able to keep up with kids!
My full-time job is counseling children and teenagers in non-traditional settings and while I don’t technically have to be active to do my job, I think I am more effective as a counselor when I can engage my clients in their most natural setting—play! For example, today I chased, played tag, and took a walk with a 5 year old, followed by shooting hoops for 20 minutes with a 10 year old, AFTER completing a morning run and yoga session. There is no way I could have done that before!! If you have kids of your own I hope this is a huge motivation to get healthy! You can model an active lifestyle while getting to know your child better. And even if you don’t have kids of your own or work with children I’m sure there are children in your life—brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, friends’ kids—that would love to play a game of tag with you!
Discovering (and liking!) new foods and recipes
(Margarita cupcakes, not a hard sell!)
If I had to eat one food for the rest of my life it would without a question be pizza. The stuff is like manna to me. But if you would have told me a year ago my pizza toppings of choice would be mushrooms, green pepper, onions I would have chuckled. I was a meat-lovers kind of girl! And I still do love the occasional slice of meat-lovers, but I really do miss the flavors my veggies bring to my pizza. Last summer I tried zucchini and summer squash again, and I love them on the grill or roasted in the oven! Who’d have thought!?! Losing weight and eating healthier has given me a new sense of adventure about foods: I love to try new things and sometimes I just look around the produce section till I see something I’ve never tried before!
Being able to indulge and celebrate without guilt
For me this is a huge benefit of losing weight because I used to (as irrational as it sounds) try to eat healthy for show during special occasions and then because I’d been “so good” at the event come home and eat ice cream with Oreos. Or I would completely pig out at holidays, while bragging about how much I’d been running, and feel completely guilty the next morning for “ruining” all my hard work. Now, because I work hard to understand the way my emotions are tied into food, I can indulge at special events because I’m celebrating something that only comes once in awhile and I’m being choosy about my treats (NOT “treating” myself with something boring like mashed potatoes, but aiming for something a little more awesome, like my grandma’s recipe of bakes sweet potato casserole—yum!). I also don’t have to feel guilty because I know that the next morning I’ll be right back to my healthy eating because I’m not on a diet, I’m living a life.
Building and Strengthening Relationships
(My sister and I, plus two new running friends!)
One of the “wins” I love the most is how my weight loss has brought me new friends, reconnections, and closer to the people I love the most. In my weight loss story you can read how my mom and I are attending Weight Watchers meetings together, what’s not in the black and white is our texts, phone calls, and subway dinners encouraging, sharing, laughing, and pushing each other forward. My sister and I ran a half marathon together this spring and it was an amazing experience to train together and complete the race holding hands. Her enthusiasm and accountability kept me going when I wanted to sleep in and skip runs. As the big sister, my instinct is to baby my little sister, but training with her allowed me to see her incredible strength, determination, and ability to laugh her way through the toughest stuff all while running me into the ground! My healthy journey has also brought me closer to my husband; we often go on walks and bike rides together which allows us to share stressors, catch up, and talk through stuff. It’s cheaper than marital counseling and good for our bodies too!
I also love all the new friends and reconnections my weight loss has brought to me as well. Whether it is connecting with someone I’ve never “met” before on the internet over our favorite oatmeal recipes or sharing weight loss tips with a friend who’s struggling to balance motherhood and taking care of herself my weight loss has brought be closer to old and new friends. I see the relationships I’ve built and strengthened during my weight loss as a two way street: my family, friends, and blog community have and still do support and encourage me along this journey and I try to pass the love along whenever I can! And honestly, isn’t that the balance we’re all looking for—consistently moving forward towards a more healthy body, deeper relationships, and really enjoying the life God has given me!
