Happy Valentine’s day, everyone! My post today is going to be completely devoted to my beautiful wife, Andrea. I was recently discussing with a coworker, the importance of a supportive spouse when trying to lose weight. I am constantly reading about people who have trouble losing weight because they have a spouse who either doesn’t care, or is completely unsupportive.

Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about that. She is the most incredible and supportive spouse I could ask for, and I am so grateful. One of the best things about her and something that is extremely helpful to me is that she is a person who loves to organize. She has a wonderfully decorated planner that gets used every day, and one of the key aspects of this is her love of meal planning. Every Sunday, she will sit down and figure out what we are going to have for dinner each night.

I love this so much. I guarantee that if I were in charge of this, we’d go hungry until the last possible minute. I might be a cook, but I simply cannot bear to research recipes and come up with different meals every night just for the two of us. I can do that at work, and for all the other people I cook for, but in my own home, it just seems exhausting. So thankfully, she does this for us, and she enjoys it quite a bit.

Whenever she meal plans, she also writes each day’s dinner down on a whiteboard that is on the fridge door, so when I need to figure out my day’s calories, all I have to do is look at the whiteboard, and immediately know what I should be logging for my dinner, and then I can plan the rest of my day around that. I cannot possibly explain just how wonderful this is. She makes my life so easy, and when dinner is the meal where I am eating the most calories, it is definitely important for me to know.

She is also very eager to help me with the actual counting of calories. If she makes a new recipe, when I come home from work she will have it all written down for me, or keep the recipe open on her phone so she can read it out to me, so that I can do all my math on portion sizes and such as I log it on my calorie tracking app, Lose It. If she is making a product from a box or a package, she will keep it handy so I can scan the barcode easily and log it all effortlessly.

She also is a very eager and willing participant for any kind of adventure, walk, or hike. I love being outdoors and it is always more exciting to have a partner with me, exploring our beautiful world. I love having a partner with me to walk to the library with, or go to a park we’ve never been to before and wander aimlessly through all the paths.

I also love that she will come to the gym with me once a week. It’s not often we get to work out together, because I go to the gym and she prefers to work out at home, but on her cardio days, she accompanies me. According to her blog post a couple weeks ago, she says my cardio is amazing and inspiring.

Which brings me to my next point. She compliments and encourages me constantly. She always comments on how skinny I am getting, and tells me things that I don’t really think about, like how much further her arms go around me when she hugs me now. She always talks up my successes and encourages me by telling me how good I am doing. She sometimes even quotes me, using my own past words to cheer me up if I am feeling down about something.

You know, trying to maintain a steady weight loss and lose 200+ pounds has not been an easy journey. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work. I have to stay motivated and disciplined. I am very good at this in general, or else I would never be where I am right now, but there are definitely times when I am just not feeling up to going to the gym, or I start feeling a little unmotivated. In those times is where she shines, providing a helpful comment or compliment to set me straight and keep me on track.

She is also very willing to share a delicious treat with me, and that is something needed as well. Sometimes it’s very freeing to go out and get a wonderful ice cream treat with the one you love. It’s a good thing to know that you can go have a snack and an indulgent dessert and still lose weight and be alright. You don’t have to cut everything out of your life!

I love her so much and appreciate her words of encouragement so much. I know that she loves me for who I am, no matter who that is, and that’s important to me. So far, she has been with me for 165 out of my 220 pounds lost. She married a very different man on the outside, but the same me on the inside. I am so happy she fell in love with that person, looking past the parts of myself that I have always hated, and motivating me on my journey to become the person I truly want to be.

I am excited to be with her forever, and I cannot wait to celebrate with her one day when I achieve my goals. I am so happy that I have a loving and encouraging spouse that makes everything so much easier.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Andrea.
I love you.