Starting the Climb...My Experience!

Every journey has to begin somewhere. If it's an uphill struggle then the start is often the most difficult part of the whole journey - the decision that you ARE going to make the journey, you Are going to do it!
The new year is often a time for new resolutions - lose weight, get fit, get the finances in order, stop biting your nails!
Losing weight - now there's a subject I could write a book about, and getting fit! The thing is, I have managed both in the past. I have lost several stones and been fit enough to run half marathons (four, in fact, though you may not believe it if you saw me now!) So what happened? Life happened. I ate more than I used in my activities and I stored the excess as body fat. Not rocket science, just a simple equation - I did too much of one thing and not enough of the other and got the resultant imbalance. Then, taking exercise is harder; it hurts more the more body you have to move about so you are even less motivated to do it and the weight creeps up...creeps up...creeps up....
I got arthritis in my knee and my hip so that made exercise harder; harder but not impossible but it was another deterrent to getting fit and allowing the creep...
So you find yourself at the bottom of a very long uphill climb and actually beginning seems impossible so you don't! You make excuses and the creeping continues...and so it gets harder and harder....what a cycle of viciousness!
Looking at 'before' and 'after' photos can motivate you but then you look at your own 'before' and 'after' pictures and feel devastated that you let it all go! 
Slump! 
Creep...creep...creep...
You have "an enormous amount to lose" and to lose a couple of pounds a week seems like such a drop in the vast ocean that it hardly seems worth it...creep...creep...creep
So, I gave myself a hefty kick up the backside this week and decided that I have to DO something about it! No-one else can do anything but me! No amount of people telling you that you don't look fat...you are such a lovely bubbly person you wouldn't look good thin...Oh don't worry about your weight, life's too short BUT THAT'S JUST THE POINT! 
I don't want to shorten my life, I'm enjoying it far too much. So, I have to take back control and stop the creep...creep...creeping!
I know it won't be easy and it IS an uphill climb, but like the climb in the photo, the view is so worth it. My 'view' will be comfort in my body and clothes, a better feeling about myself and so many clothes hidden away in the back of the wardrobe that I will be able to wear again!
So I'm starting the climb. I have not declared that I am going to give up anything but I am going to have less of the foods that I know don't do me and my climb any good. I am going to get this body moving more - I have had 3x30 minute stints on the exercise bike this week and have 'cycled' 39 kms! I have started and I do feel better.
So, if anyone out there reading this needs a bit of a kick, a motivator, a companion on the uphill climb I am very happy to 'compare notes'! I may be puffing and panting too much to chat as we go but having someone else on the journey is always good!
(I also should add that I will be praying for extra help to resist the tempting things and have less of them; cheating? Maybe, but allowed in this case I think! Available to all, no exclusions, so not cheating!)