Weighty Matters

I lost 0.2 tonight -- bringing my total back to 218 gone. Oh my...... 10 to go (again)!!!!! I'm still in awe at the thought. I'm excited and nervous and psyched and scared, all jumbled together. I will write more about it later, but I wanted to post just a short update. ALMOST THERE!!!!

Just a quick note to say that I'm down another 1.2 --- 217.8 total! Almost back down to the Christmas Eve weigh-in (when I was down 218 even). That means just 10.2 to go!!!! I'm so very excited and can't wait for the week to come. I didn't get as much exercise in as I would have liked -- but I did the stationary bike the other evening for 30 minutes. BOY did my glutes hurt the next day, but I felt good about that. I also bought The Biggest Loser: Yoga and Dancing with the Stars: Latin Cardio Dance to try for the rest of the winter. Why the yoga video? Well, I need to be more flexible; that's the part of the exercise equation I don't do so well on. I'm doing better than even months ago and I'm certain way better than 3 years ago, but I can always improve! I have a Kathy Smith Latin cardio VHS tape from a few years back, but my VCR has long been broken, and why spend the money to get that fixed when VHS is pretty much phased out now.... I'll let you...

I maintained this week, and honestly, I'm pretty happy with that. This was a weird week. I was actually hungry at times. That almost never happens. Like my friend Rose said, it was just ravenous this week with her. A couple of nights this week, it was that I just couldn't seem to get enough. And I don't get it. I ate filling foods. I ate good portions -- not too little, not too much. But it just didn't seem to be enough. So I dipped into the flex points for the week, and it wasn't a total disaster. I also discovered that 40 minutes of "Sweatin' to the Oldies" gets me the same activity points as my usual walk of Maddox. And yet it just didn't seem like enough. I know, weird. I hadn't actually used that video in a few years, but the moves came back fairly quickly. Amazing. It was fun to do. The only thing I didn't like were the pauses in between songs. So I kept marching in place. I wanted to keep going. Matter of fact, he could have tacked ...

While pride goeth before a fall, allow me to wallow in it for just a brief span. Earlier this week, we had a visit from someone whom we are planning to hire. He came by my office to get some benefits information, and saw my triptych on the wall. When I hit my one-year anniversary (and 100 pounds gone), my coworkers gave me a wonderful 3-panel picture frame. In the first opening, they put my "before" picture. In the middle is space for my current picture, and in the last frame, is a printout of a beach volleyball player, with my head superimposed on it. It's a great visual aid, and keeps me in check. Anyway, the almost-employee asked me as he was leaving, "So what's the significance of the three pictures?" I replied, "Oh, that's my before, current, and to-be pictures." His jaw dropped. "That's not you. They've taken your ... wait, is that just Photoshopped?" No, I assured him, it really was me. 216 pounds ago, but it was really...

on downhill toward GOAL!!! I lost one more pound for a total of 216.6 ..... only 11.4 to go and I am still stoked about that. No, it's not the ten from a couple of weeks ago, but so what? Tonight at our meeting, we talked about the 7 steps to success. And you'd think after all this time, I'd be sitting there going, "Oh, I don't need this...." WRONG! I still need the lessons, even after all this time. I still need to listen to my body's signals. I still need to track everything. I still need to pay attention to the good health guidelines. I still need to do all these things or that train will derail! Continuing the train analogy, it takes a lot of cars and engines working together ...... the program itself, the support of so many others on the same journey, and my own determination. And all these parts need to be in proper balance. Sometimes when my own determination isn't enough, I need that extra support from others. And then I can turn around and giv...

I went for weigh-in early again this week, and it was FULL of people either coming back after a few weeks layoff, or signing up to join (or in some cases, join again!). I was up by 2.4 pounds -- so it's now back to 12.4 to go for goal. It's okay, though. I'm not upset or discouraged in the least. First of all, losing 4 pounds was great but I knew it seemed a little high. So I expected a "bounceback" -- and I still averaged just under a pound a week. I stepped on the scale at home this morning, just to gauge things, and it is down (as it should be -- I've done some exercise every day this week; GOOD FOR ME!). So I'm working it hard this week to stay on track, and this ten (oops, now 12.4) pounds will come off very soon!