Looking back, around, and forward

This will be the final installment of my 'anniversary' series.

I received an email from myself yesterday.

Dear Maura, 

I'm so proud of you!  You lost 70 lbs and better yet, you've maintained that weight loss for three years! And you were invited (OK, at your prodding) to speak at a STARS group at Emory so you can share your experiences. 

YOU ARE A SUCCESS!

You didn't do it alone.  Dan.  He's been so wonderful to you and supported you every step of the way.  You are so blessed to have him in your life.  Be sure to thank him.

Remember, the best acknowledgment  and reward you can give yourself for reaching this milestone is to keep on being healthy and working towards your goal.

You are worth it.

-Maura

I was vaguely surprised to receive it and then I remembered.  This time last year, I was so proud of my two year accomplishment and being invited to speak at Emory that when someone on MyFoodDiary.com mentioned this future email service, I jumped on the opportunity to congratulate myself for 3 years.   The service is free: Futureme.org I highly recommend sending your future self an email congratulating and praising yourself for the efforts you make every day to be a better person. A little reinforcement every now and then is a good thing.

Looking back - not much to say about the past year that I haven't already said before. It's been a hard year in terms of weight maintenance and getting used to working again. At the same time, it's been a blessed year. I'm proud that I have kept up enough good habits to keep from gaining a lot of weight.

Looking around - I see that my diet has room for improvement, but overall it's a healthy diet. I am glad I went to the doc and am hopeful the metmorphin helps so that I can start enjoying food again without gaining weight every time I indulge. I'm also thankful for the people who support me here on this blog, the ones who are waitiing on me to go back to posting on MFD (Sarah - that's you!). And my partner. Cindy, I saw a phrase of yours on MFD "loved me to life." That describes so well the impact D has made in my life. Thanks for sharing that.

Looking forward - I see me keeping on keeping on. Maybe I should rename my blog to that because it really is my mantra. I know that if I keep on keeping on doing the things I know are good for me, I'll continue to be healthy and happy and balanced. Isn't that what this is all about anyway?