My January Weight Loss Recap: Steps, Struggles, and Setting February Goals

Did anyone else feel like January lasted forever? Maybe it's the physical exhaustion, or maybe it's the grief that kept creeping up all month, but it felt like it was a lot longer than 31 days.

Embarking on a weight loss journey isn’t just a physical challenge. It might even be more of a mental challenge than physical, at least for me. It’s a chance to discover resilience and determination though. It's also a chance to show yourself grace when you fall down and you're not sure you'll get back up.

Here's a recap for January, filled with results from the past month, and my goals for February.

Total Steps and Average Steps Per Day

In January, I ended up with 352,356 steps total. This averages out to 11,366 steps per day. A reminder that my January step goal was 350,000, so I hit the goal! I wasn't sure I was going to hit the goal at one point, as I got into a deep funk for a few days near the end, but I dug deep, hit a 20k+ day this past Tuesday, and got to the end.

Weight Loss Progress: Starting and Ending Weights

I wasn't sure how transparent I would be with my actual weight when I started this blog, but I decided to share everything, and that includes my actual weight. Who knows, maybe it will help someone else to talk about it more and to feel more comfortable speaking about it? I started this whole journey when I hit 245 pounds (one of the worst days of my life thinking how the f did I get to almost 250!?). I cried for days about it, and said I absolutely cannot go a single pound higher. It was a reality check I needed, and I knew then that I needed to find a way to change that, especially since I was thankfully taken off of the medication that I knew contributed to so much to the weight gain.

I kicked off January 2025 at 224.7 pounds and finished the month at 211.1 pounds. That's a loss of 13.6 pounds! This is a great number to start the year, but it’s important to remember that weight loss is not just about the numbers (and to realize the first month is usually the best one due to losing water weight and being a higher weight with more to lose).

January 2025 Results

The Challenges: Almost Falling Off the Wagon

Navigating my journey in January wasn't always smooth sailing. After a successful first three weeks, I hit a mental wall (and sore post roller skating days) and took days off from focusing on physical activity. It was disheartening; I felt as though all my hard work was crumbling, and that I wasn't going to get up and get moving again.

I think most of us have our demons. For me, it's my internal thoughts (overthinking, anxiety). It's also the grief that pops up in the strangest moments. I've had days where I went from feeling unstoppable to a sudden sadness in realizing that some of the people I'd most want to share that feeling with, are no longer with me.

Eventually, after a few days, I convinced myself to get back up because those same people wouldn't want me sitting here feeling sorry for myself about the turns my life has taken in the last couple years. It's a cycle I can't seem to break, but I am hopeful these moments will become less and less and the low moments become part of my ever growing strength. I've had to remind myself that progress isn't strictly linear. Life has its ups and downs. It's normal to need a break sometimes. It's normal to feel sadness among the happiness some days. It's normal to not want to dance when you're not in a good place mentally. I luckily found my motivation again in the last week though, and getting back on track was great.

The Overall Journey

Overall since I started my weight loss program with Allina, I'm now down 33.9 pounds. This achievement is amazing, but it’s equally crucial to remember that the journey is ongoing. It's a journey that goes way beyond the physical. It's not easy changing habits. It's not easy to not give in to stress eating. It's not easy to want to dance when life is not always going the way you wish it would.

Goals for February

For February, I'm going to keep it simple and do exactly as I have been doing. Until the weight loss plateaus (which I know can happen at any time), I'm not going to overthink or try to reinvent the wheel. I'll stick to Monday-Friday goals of 10,000 steps each day. Then the weekends will vary as it will depend on what else I have going on, how well I'm doing on the overall goal, etc.

In addition to fitness goals, I aim to branch out on what I blog about this month. I plan to write and post two blog posts not directly tied to weight loss. This hopefully will allow me to share more of myself and my interests beyond numbers.

Reflecting on Progress

As I conclude my January recap, I'm honestly not sure how I feel. I know I should feel great about the progress, but also more just focused on how far I have yet to go. However, I will take time to share the best milestone of the journey so far that happened just this last week. I just surpassed my milestone goal of losing all of the cancer weight! That weight came on fast and before I had a chance to get the pregnancy weight off from surrobabe #5 in 2023. I can't wait to hit all the milestones to come, and hopefully I'll learn to enjoy it more.

One day at a time. One step at a time.