Weighty Matters

Not Christmas. Okay, yes, it is almost here, but that's not exactly what this is about. I went to weigh in today at the noon meeting, since our center will be closed after that meeting until Friday. I stepped on the scale, and I am four pounds down from last week. FOUR. Okay, big whoop, right? Well, yeah. I haven't had a four-pound loss in forever, so YES, it is a big deal. But this means I have ten pounds to go to hit goal. Ten. Ten. Ten. Ten. I have to let it sink in. I never in my wildest imagination pictured myself at this point when I started out. Seriously, when I started out, I had no idea where it would all lead, or if I would have the courage and determination to continue. The earliest successes led me to believe that yes, I could do this. But I had so much weight to lose that I really couldn't picture the final "Winning Outcome" (wink!). It was only by looking piece by piece, five pounds by five pounds (or ten by ten), that I could do it. Knowing that...

My loss this week was relatively small -- 0.8 pounds -- but that brings my total to 214 even. This means I have just 14 pounds to go. Under 15 to go. It almost doesn't seem real. I'm serious.... it almost doesn't seem real. Nearly 3 years ago, I could not imagine reaching this point -- at least not seeing it real and in the mirror. It seemed more like a dream, one of those "wow, that sounds nice and I'm gonna try... really. I am....." My big gain this week was a huge boost to my self-confidence -- from several sources. On Sunday, I met my best friend and her family for lunch after Mass. Now, she and I have known each other for 21 years now, and her husband's known me for 19 years. Once they were seated, he looked at me and said, "You know, I didn't recognize you when we walked in...." (my back was to the door). Holy cow -- can you believe it??? Just the week before at choir practice, one of my fellow altos remarked that none of them could bel...

Tonight was weigh-in -- up 0.2 ..... oh woe is me. Break out the whips and chains. BAH! I am glad that the gain was not worse -- the weather was horrific and I didn't get much walking in at all. I even spent time yesterday walking around a smaller warehouse area at work; talk about monotonous! It makes walking the outside loop look great by comparison! And last Saturday was the company party with all that delicious food (and I was good and didn't overindulge but I did dip into the flex points). So, with that in mind, this week we got our materials for the new Momentum program, Weight Watchers' first major update in 4 years (there was a minor one about 2 years ago, but this is a bigger change). I definitely say "Me Likey!!!" Without spoiling it (wanna know more? hit a meeting!), the changes that have been made are pretty much what I've been doing already -- but with some new ways of looking at things, new recipes to try, and new incentive to keep going. Yes, I ...

One of the things that truly was horrid about obesity was the lack of options. The option to lose weight was one that would cross my mind on occasion, and even go so far as to do something temporarily about it. But most of the time, I just ignored the obvious. After all, they still made clothes in my size -- and larger! That worked until I reached the point where I was in the largest commercial size for stores. The only remaining options were buying clothes from a few specialty catalogs, or making my own clothes. Let me rephrase that: to pattern my own clothes. McCall's and Simplicity carry larger sizes but even they stop where the stores do. At one point I really did look into buying a very expensive pattern-making software (think well over $500) -- as if I even had time to buy enough cloth, cut out a pattern, sew clothes, etc. I made one dress once upon a time, and it took me weeks (since I was working that summer as well). To ask a seamstress to do it for me would be more conven...

Well, color me tickled pink and happy!!! I lost 3.0 this week for a total of 213.4 ..... that's only 14.6 to go to get to goal! WHOOPEE!!!!!! I am pretty psyched about that, and kind of scared too. I almost feel a little like Wile E. Coyote: "Now that I have him, what do I do with him?" There was a really neat moment this past week. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were not conducive at all for walking -- it rained most of the weekend, and Monday evening, I had a hair appointment. So Tuesday, I was ready. I came home, and I didn't care how cold it was, or how long it would take or any of that -- I. Had. To. Walk. And Soon. I layered up, hit the trail and walked around town. I did my two-plus miles in just under 40 minutes. I never imagined just a few short years ago that I would ever enjoy walking and be dying to do it.... ME? I hated exercise. There's still some types of exercise that I don't like. Aerobic classes? No. I enjoy solitude when exercising way too muc...