“… pre-diabetic, pre-hypertension, obese…” the words faded away as the “lifestyle counselor” reviewed the numbers scribbled on the page in front of her. She probably said more, but by that time, I had tuned her out.

The conversation was taking place at my work’s annual employee wellness screening. It’s something I’ve done countless times before. But this time, something was different.

Her words kept coming back to mind as I stewed, mad that yet again, I was struggling with my weight. I knew she was correct. My pants were fitting tighter and tighter. And I never stood on the scales when I had a choice, after all, the numbers mocked me when they shone back up at me.

Ten years ago I lost nearly 40 lbs over the course of a summer, but as I reached within 10 lbs of my goal, life got in the way, and I fizzled out. In the last 10 years, the weight on the scales has kept climbing.

As I continued to think about the words of the “lifestyle counselor”, I realized that it was in my hands to make a change. I was tired of cloths not fitting, feeling out of breath as I climbed the stairs, and concerned about my overall health.

That was 15 lbs ago.

A month or so back, I visited my cardiologist and found that not only has my resting heart rate dropped, but my blood pressure is now notably lower.

And today, I finished a 5k. My time didn’t make any records, but I couldn’t be happier to see the progress.

I’m still “in-progress”, my belts are getting loser, but I’m headed down and I can’t wait!