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Big Budah’s blog: New Year, new goals and time with family

Posted at 2:20 PM, Jan 01, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-01 22:36:27-05

2018: Recap and reflect:
In typical fashion, I want to echo what many of us are thinking, “Man the year went by so fast!”

Obviously, we all look to 2019 with 365 new blank pages. Here are my reflections of the past year as well as some of my benchmarks I hope to reach:

  • I love my job and have been blessed to work with good, talented people, I have been able to grow and expand my role as a Co-host for FOX13’s lifestyle show “The Place”
  • As far as health and fitness in 2018, I had spurts of consistency and drive for two months at a time, then fall off due to some low-level depression from missing my daughter in Australia, and the rigors and stress of worrying about doing well at work and paying bills.
  • I had a great year learning about myself and what I need to do to better myself.
  • I started a podcast “DB with Big Budah” with a good friend of mine Patrick Essex, better known as DB, that has given me a release and outlet to express myself.

Goals:

  • In six months (or sooner) I want to get to 280 pounds by my 49th birthday this June, with a body fat percentage of 25 percent or less. Right now, I am 327lbs (I know, I gained back all the weight I lost) and 40 percent body fat. This go around, I am going to apply everything I learned from Total Health and Fitness, BMI Utah, Vasa, Drew Manning and utilize the elements that worked well for me. The positive is that I am still down 123 pounds from 450 pounds.
  • Continue to grow my role on FOX13’s Good Day Utah and The Place.
  • Learn a third language or at least enough to carry on a conversation.
  • Learn to cook traditional Samoan and Tongan foods healthily without sacrificing flavor.

Gratitude:
I am so thankful for the many influences in my life as well as the love and support from everyone. I would not be who I am or doing what I do without everyone all around me.

I recognize the hand of God in my life and am humbled by his love for me and my family in spite of my imperfections. “God is good, all the time!” May we all have someone or something by our side this new year that makes us be and do what we think is impossible.

LETS GO GET IT!! Thank you most of all to my wife Jennifer for putting up with my S@$! especially for still wanting to share her weight loss journey with you too.

Highlights of 2018 & Hopes for 2019:

I have so many things to be grateful for from 2018 I want to take some time to name a few of them.

  • My family and the growth that we have experienced together, all of the blessings that we have felt over the year.
  • The success that I have had in my career and the advancement that I have started in my future education was a huge milestone that I reached.
  • My success with my weight loss surgery was a huge part of 2018, being able to experience life in a new way and recognizing the strengths that I have to accomplish my goals.

Looking to 2019, I have many hopes for my future self. Some of these are:

  • Being able to utilize the resources that are offered with the BMI of Utah to reach my weight loss goal of losing my last 20 pounds. I have managed to maintain a weight of 180 for over six months but I would like to be able to drop the last 20 pounds this year.
  • I am interested in finding a physical activity that I really enjoy, one that will be fun and keep me going, wanting to do it more and more each day. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
  • Lastly, I have challenged myself to become more spiritually full as well, to be able to become a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, etc. A better me! I look forward to what this year has in store for me and my family.

Best month ever:
This was by far the best month of the year for many reasons. First of all, I love the Christmas season. I love everything about it, decorating, baking, gift giving, and of course, eating.

My family had many wonderful things happen this month, our second oldest daughter Jaelyn returned from her LDS mission in Sydney Australia. We all went to the airport to pick her up on Dec 12 at 12:50 p.m. Anyone who has had a missionary return from a mission knows exactly what it feels like to be waiting for that moment when you see your child’s face again for the first time when you give them that first hug and never want to let go.

Having my daughter home for Christmas was the best gift I could have ever received, I still find myself taking a second look just to make sure that she is really here, home with us. Right after she returned home, four days later to be exact we took off on a family vacation to Disneyland. Poor girl, didn’t even have time to get over her jet lag before we stuck her in a car for twelve hours. But she was a great sport.

Disneyland was so beautiful at Christmas time, with all the decorations and holiday cheer. I love it, we had such a great time being together as a family. It is truly a magical place! We were there for two days all day long, my Apple Watch said that we walked over 20,000 steps each day which was over ten miles. I never once felt tired from walking, my knees and legs didn’t swell up like they would before. It would have been a struggle to do this vacation before having my surgery. Best decision of my life!

Party Party Party:

My family had the opportunity to stop by my parent’s house on the way back from Disneyland and to be able to have dinner and spend time with my siblings and their children. It was a great way for everyone to be able to see Jaelyn again.

After returning home we had some parties of our own. I love to host parties with friends and family and this month was the month for that. We had a party for my daughters return from her mission and a party for Christmas Eve with my husband’s side of the family. It is so great to get together with our loved ones and to share laughter and conversation.

This is a season of giving and being able to have friends and family be a part of that is what Christmas is about in my book. We finished off the year with a New Year’s Eve party with our church family, dancing, laughing, and listening to music. Whenever I go dancing, I am reminded of how I wasn’t able to dance for a long time without having to sit down and rest.

I am grateful to BMI Utah for my new lease on life and my ability to have a better quality of life. Looking toward the new year I have many hopes for myself, many goals that I want to achieve. I look forward to being able to share them with all of you, thank you for taking the time to read my blog and to be a part of my journey. Happy New Year!

Thanks to everyone for the ongoing support! Click here to follow our Losing for Life journey.