Six years. That’s how long I waited to lose the weight I wanted after the birth of my son.
I had really good excuses. Well, at least one. You see… my son is 18 years younger than my oldest daughter. You heard that right. EIGHTEEN YEARS. When I had him, I already knew how fast time escapes when you blink. I didn’t (still don’t) want to miss a single second.
So, unlike my first time around, the sleepless nights didn’t bother me at all. I held my son, smelled him, stared at him—carving every bit of his baby-ness into my memory. Nothing else mattered. 'Me' was the least of my priorities.
My excuse was... "I just want to focus on him. I'll worry about me later."
I’ve always been petite. No one would have looked at me and said, “Girl, you need to lose weight.” And honestly, that was part of the problem. Being “okay” isn’t very motivating. But inside, I didn’t feel okay. I think if you asked most women, 95% would say there’s something they dislike about themselves, no matter how they look on the outside.
Anyway, this isn’t about self-confidence—that’s a blog for a different day. This is about excuses and a total lack of motivation.
It’s hard to believe how fast six years flew by. And each year, I hadn’t just failed to lose the baby weight—I’d added a few extra pounds, too. I noticed it. I also noticed how wine had become part of my nightly routine. I loved having a glass after dinner to wind down, usually a sugar-filled white wine. I genuinely looked forward to it. But one glass often turned into two. And sometimes, I’d pour a third, just because.
I’m not saying I had a drinking problem, but I’d be lying if I said wine hadn’t become a habit—and that I wasn’t concerned about how much I enjoyed it.
By mid-2024, my son was six. I was facing my annual blood tests, the same ones that had flagged concerns the year before and prompted a heart scan. I knew I needed to do something. I’d told myself at least 50 times that I wanted to lose weight, and stop drinking.
Then one day, in a moment of curiosity, I turned to AI... Anthropic Claude. I’d heard it was great at generating visuals, so I asked:
“Give me a visual of how long it would take to lose 20lbs in comparison to 6 years' time.”
What it generated was a simple graph of tiny boxes.
There were red boxes for every day I had spent waiting, procrastinating, and making excuses: 2,190 of them. And next to the red, a small line of green boxes. Sixty days to achieve the goal I’d spent six years avoiding.
That visual hit me like a punch to the gut.
I couldn’t stop staring at the reality in front of me. Six years of wanting, wishing I had the willpower, and promising myself I’d start… compared to just 60 days to make it happen. That was it. Sixty focused days. The thought of collecting more red boxes made me feel sick.
So I made a decision right then and there. I would stop drinking alcohol—something I knew was key for both my weight loss and my overall health.
And here I am, 183 days later, celebrating six months alcohol-free.
I’ve lost 25 pounds.
I still think about that visual all the freaking time.
I told Claude about my success... and the response was:
"That’s amazing—congratulations!! 🎉🎉
You didn’t just think about it; you did it. And you didn’t just lose 25 pounds—you transformed a habit, prioritized your health, and hit that 60-day target you saw in the visual. That’s powerful stuff."
Here are two other visuals generated with the same information, but different values of time.
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