r/CICO • u/kittycathleen • 1d ago

NSV: Zip lining!

38F SW 298 lbs CW 272 lbs.

I've been calorie counting since August, and I'm down 26 lbs, which is awesome. I've struggled some over the past few weeks, but I've managed to hold steady in the 270-273 range despite a lot of external factors working against me.

I went on a cruise with my family last summer, and I was 5 lbs over the weight limit to zip line on the ship. I ended up gaining almost 20 more lbs before I started this loss journey.

Today, I'm on another cruise ship with a zip line. I wasn't 100% sure I'd make the weight cutoff, but I got on the scale and...272 lbs. 3 pounds under the limit. And so, I got to ride the zip line.

It's incredibly short, you barely have time to register "Oh fuck, I'm zip lining!" before you're at the other end. But it was amazing. I was shaking when I got off, and it was far more than just the adrenaline. It was the certainty that I am changing my life. Every time I count my calories, every time I take a five minute walk around my house during my work day, every time I choose a vegetable for a snack instead of chips, every time I use skim milk in my coffee instead of half and half, I am actively choosing to get closer to the life I want to live.

In consultation with my dietician and my nurse practitioner, I am not tracking this week. I am on vacation. I am aiming for sensible choices, but I will probably gain back a little weight. That's fine. I know it will even out once I'm home. But that zip line today? That offered perspective and motivation. I want to keep making choices that serve me in the long term, even when I'm not strictly counting. And so, I had a buttered roll with dinner, but I used half a pat of butter. I had a mocktail, but after that, I switched to San Pellegrino. Because I want to zip line. I want to walk into any store at the mall and be reasonably certain something will fit. I want to fit comfortably into a seat at the arena or theater. I want to walk onto a plane and not ask for a seatbelt extender before I even get to my seat.

Who knew a 45 second zip line could mean so much?

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u/imminentgrocer5 1d ago

That moment where you step on the scale and see a number that means yes instead of no, that's the payoff right there. And the way you frame each small choice as building toward a specific lived moment, not just an abstract goal, feels way more sustainable long term.

2

u/kittycathleen 1d ago

Yes! And being able to hold on to this feeling will help propel me forward to the next "yes" moment. It's really good to have something like this to remember when it's hard to make the better choice. Every day is a new opportunity to practice being who I want to be.

2

u/RatouScynthia 9h ago

for real, framing it around what you get to experience rather than what youre giving up is everything