I know this comes a little late, as we are more than two weeks into 2012. But what were your resolutions this year? Or did you make any?

My New Year’s Eve was normal– champagne, a kiss from my husband at midnight, and of course there was much talk about our resolutions. What was abnormal this year is that for the first time since I was old enough to make resolutions, I didn’t resolve to “lose weight.” Granted, it’s still a goal. But if I’ve learned anything over the last few months, this lifestyle change shouldn’t be a temporary goal, it should be permanent. Losing weight is half the battle, I’m learning. Maintaining the habits that help you change your entire lifestyle for the better is what takes determination and courage.

There is a newness that the change of a year brings. By that logic, each day should feel that way. Each time you wake up, we have a second chance to start again.

It took me more than a year to put on all this extra weight. It may take me more than a year to get rid of it all, and that’s okay. My point is — if yesterday was a successful day of fabulous eating and HYPOXI®, or if it was a disaster of cinnamon rolls for breakfast and pizza for lunch (guilty, I’m not going to lie) — it starts all over today.

I will say this: I am really glad that I started this journey before I had surgery. I feel like my body handled surgery much better than it would have had I had it six months ago at my highest weight ever. My doctor even commented on how much my BMI had dropped from my first appointment with him a year ago. I no longer have to be on a certain medication I was on because “the weight loss did for me what the medicine couldn’t.” If that’s not motivation to continue on this journey, I don’t know what is.

I’ll tell you— I’ve been eating. I’ve not been to the HYPOXI®-Studio since surgery, and I can already feel my pants tightening. Oh, the poor choices I’ve made in the last few weeks.

I let surgery be my excuse. “I’m recovering from surgery, I am allowed to eat whatever I want, dangit!” Then, after my follow-up appointment, I let my excuse be, “It’s the holidays and I only see these people once a year and man can my grandmother cook, and I can’t just pass up that huge tub of macaroni and cheese, so I’m allowed to eat whatever I want, dangit!” Then, when the holidays were over and everything was slowing back down, my excuse became, “I’m moody. I am allowed to eat whatever I want, dangit!”

In retrospect, I’ve probably had a million excuses the last few weeks. But no one’s going to do this for me. It has to be my choice to start fresh, even if I don’t feel like it—no excuses.

I have some great friends and family who made us meals and brought them so that my husband could focus on taking care of me and our four month old puppy, Coda. We were so thankful, but needless to say, not everything was super healthy. That, on top of being stationary day after day after day, and I already FEEL like I’m losing ground in the weight loss department.

All this time, I thought that getting my heart rate to reach my target heart rate would take faster walking. A new HYPOXI®-Trainer who joined the team recently, Amy, showed me how to reach my target heart rate by increasing my incline and not my speed.

I love my family but I highly doubt they will alter their long-standing traditional meals on Thanksgiving for my new way of life. Actually, I’m sure they won’t. Since my local HYPOXI®-Studio is closed on Thanksgiving and the day after in observance, I will be doing everything I can to make good choices during the meals and stay active. Will report back—this is tough stuff.

Yesterday we took my measurements. I have only lost .6 inches since my last measurement, and 6 pounds. It’s time to kick it back into gear and revamp my plan, just in time for the biggest food-related holiday in the United States.

It is getting much colder here in the Carolinas, and when that happens I go into a pseudo-hibernation mode. What does this mean for dieting? I eat out more, I crave melted cheese in any form, and I want bread and rolls and pastas and potatoes— my favorite comfort foods.

The way my HYPOXI®-Trainer explained it is that whole grains are important, but in the appropriate portion sizes. I chose to ignore that last part and I felt the consequences as I stepped on that scale last night.

I’m back on the bandwagon today. This is too important to ignore.

Yesterday, however, I did buy a new pair of jeans, this time in a size 14. Size 14! I haven’t been a size 14 since I was 14 years old!! I was skeptical when I started HYPOXI®, but the proof is in the results– HYPOXI® works!! There is a lot of science and genius that went into HYPOXI®, and all of that is so important. But when you see the results first-hand like I am, I have to tell you, it’s remarkable and inspiring, and you won’t want to quit until you reach your goal…

I hit the TWENTY POUND mark last week. I have lost 20 pounds as of today and I feel awesome about that. Those size 16 jeans that I bought last week? Yeah, they’re loose already.

And yet, Thanksgiving is looming around the corner. It’s the season of eating, and eating A LOT. My HYPOXI®-Trainer Jessica and I have come up with a game plan for holiday eating and realized that I don’t really crave the sweet treats or the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows and walnuts. My stumbling stone is green bean casserole. It has green beans in it, so that’s healthy, right? Yes. But then there’s the cheese, cream of mushroom soup, and fried onions on top that makes it really to die for.

So I won’t deprive myself. I will enjoy Thanksgiving rationally. I will eat one plate of food. I will not go back for seconds (or thirds, as in years past), and I’ll come out still on track.

Did I mention that I attend FOUR Thanksgiving dinners every year for each side of my extended family? Well I do.

People who eat French fries at 10:30 p.m. and smell up your whole apartment, right after you’ve sweated buckets on the Vacunaut!

People who bring Bojangles in for a breakfast surprise at work and put the bacon-egg-and-cheese-biscuit-bonanza in the kitchen across from your desk.

People who eat all the leftover Halloween candy in the basket on your kitchen counter.

People who just don’t get why you’re doing this—changing yourself, bettering yourself, trying to learn how to be yourself. Sometimes those around you jump on board and support you, and sometimes they just feel alienated.

My husband keeps telling me he hopes I don’t change who I am on the inside just because I’m changing on the outside, and I understand what he means. But I told him my greatest hope is that who I am on the inside gets a massive overhaul. The weight loss is half the battle. The other half is learning how to be in your new skin, learning how to dance with your husband in public (only happened once on my wedding day), learning how to shop for things you’ve always been too nervous to even try on. I dream of ditching the big chains of stores that carry larger sizes—I dream of walking into a boutique with a girlfriend and finding something I love that will fit me. I dream of buying a swimsuit next year because I absolutely love it and feel good in it, and not just because it is the coolest one of the two that I can find in my size. I hope I change on the inside, too, into a confident woman that doesn’t cower behind her creativity or business career, and instead can be a complete, healthy, well-rounded person.

I told him that one day, when we finally have children, that I can lead them in a healthy lifestyle by living one myself.

I’d say I’m well on my way. He’s learning how to support me one step at a time. After all, he’s never seen me healthy. This is brand new territory for both of us.