Two weeks into the new diet, I’ve lost 8 lbs. Half of that, my brother tells me, is typically excess water etc. everyone loses more or less instantly whenever they suddenly eat less. So that means I’ve lost about four pounds in two weeks which is certainly not a whole lot but then it’s better than nothing, right? Plus, I haven’t even begun the sports part of my diet. I plan on doing that this week. I had to get the eating part organized first: figuring out which foods are low on calories and fat, which meals meeting my new calorie intake limit are easily prepared, and how to fit it all in my sorry student grocery budget. Also, it took a few days to understand how my body responds to eating less, during what times of the day I tend to crave big portions, things like that. I’m still at the parents’ now but once I’m back in Maastricht on Wednesday or Thursday, I’ll add daily exercise to the equation which is of course important not only to loose weight as far as numbers go but also, among many other things including overall health, to actually loose FAT and not muscle.

So, again, I guess four pounds is really not very much to loose in two whole weeks – especially since it’s typically relatively easy to drop the first few pounds. But to me, it’s still a great motivation to see the number go down at all instead of up.

Another thing I’ve noticed: it feels great to have my weight issues out in the open. And I don’t mean here on the blog (I’ve discussed my weight and especially my plans to finally loose some of it on here forever; it’s quite laughable actually) but as in admitting to the family that I’m going to try to loose a certain amount of weight by a specific date. It’s not even so much the admitting to be over-weight. It’s the admitting to feel uncomfortable in my own body and admitting to really want to do something about it that’s been so tough in the past. I assume that’s because once you admit that you have a problem and that your goal is to make the problem go away there’s always the possibility of failure, and with weight loss anyone can so easily tell that you failed to meet your goal. This isn’t a problem now. I have my brother to thank for that because he took the same step about half a year ago; he decided to loose weight and committed to it openly. So the topic’s been out there, if that makes sense, and I simply had to follow in his steps.

And because my efforts are now known to all family members, they really support me. As I said, my brother – my little brother who will always be just 8 years old to me but is actually EIGHTEEN – is my perfect source for random tips that worked for him and might help me, too. My mom has told me repeatedly that she loves that I’m doing this. My dad’s chimed in here and there, though we tend to disagree over many things concerning weight loss. But still.

It’s weird. I’ve only done this for two weeks which obviously barely counts for anything in anyone’s eyes. But something is still different than all the countless times I have attempted to do this. It’s that book my brother gave me that I read, it’s my parents cheering me on, it’s the weight that’s been lifted off me (for lack of a better phrase) now that we openly talk about these things, it’s the teeny tiny success of eight pounds lost.

And really, I cannot thank my brother enough for this. I can’t really explain this adequately but once I saw how effectively he put his plan in motion and how handsome and healthy he looks now, it felt like doors were suddenly open to me left and right. I’m looking up to my little brother in so many ways – both literally (heh) and figuratively, and over the years I’ve said to many people how much I want to be like him when I grow up. This weight loss thing is just another reason why I’m endlessly proud of him, and I’m hoping that it will be as gigantic an influence on me as it feels like it could be right now.

Back to my weight loss. I added a progress bar to the sidebar of my about page which you can check out here if you’re interested. I love progress bars. There’s something very encouraging about them. I considered putting it right here in the sidebar of the index page but it kind of messed up the look of it. On the other hand, I’d be able to see my progress every single time I check my own blog (which, sadly, is VERY OFTEN). I don’t know. Knowing me, though, I’ll probably have just put the bar on the index page by the time you read this, and you’ll be asking yourselves, WHAT IS THIS WOMAN TALKING ABOUT?

But then, everyone’s likely used to that already.