After decades of gaining, I finally lost weight in 2016

After decades of gaining every year, I finally lost some weight in 2016, but NOT for a good reason. My husband died in the spring. His death shattered my heart, and turned my life upside down.

I lost 10 pounds in the first week he was gone because I could barely swallow a mouthful of anything. I remember eating one slice of pizza on some of those days. That's it, one slice of pizza, all day--and that was only because somebody had brought it to me, and I was so shaky from not eating that I could barely stand it.

For the rest of the spring, then on through summer and fall, I was extremely busy taking care of the many things that need to be taken care of when a spouse is no longer there. My husband repaired and built bicycles, and was in the middle of restoring his classic truck when he died, so there was quite a bit of physical work involved with getting everything in his shop and around the property taken care of.

All this activity, along with still not eating as much as I used to, meant that I continued to lose weight, until I ended up down 42 pounds from my highest weight ever.

I managed to get down to 255, but then winter came, my first winter alone. It's been difficult. Not only is there the sadness and loneliness from my husband's absence, but the longer nights and lack of sunlight haven't helped. I've been craving sweet carbs and comfort foods since the beginning of winter, and the sadness and loneliness of the holidays only added to it, not to mention having tons of left-overs in the refrigerator after hosting our family's Christmas Day dinner, and me being the only one here to eat them.

We haven't had a lot of snow so far this year, but we've had a lot of ice, so it's hard to get out to walk. Thanks to all of these things, I've gained back some, up to 263.

I've done pretty well keeping my weight in that range, because most years I've gained a good ten pounds over the winter. I don't want that to happen this year. I want to keep losing, and I can't wait for spring.