75 Pounds Lost!

So excited to have finally reached my 75 pound mark! It has been 8 months, so I'm losing at a pretty good rate. I am hoping to reach 100 by the end of the year (by Christmas would be awesome), or at least by the second week in January.  That will mean I have lost 100 lbs in a year.  I believe it is totally doable.

In my meeting yesterday I talked about my ultimate goal.  My ultimate goal is to be happy about my body for the first time in my life.  Sure, I was skinny (normal) in high school, but I didn't know it. I thought I was fat, when really I was just tall.  My friends were just over 5 foot and wearing size 4 jeans; my mom was constantly watching and judging what I ate. I had a terrible body image, which I believe is part of why I gained so much weight.  Since I thought I was fat, what was one more pound?  One more pound eventually became over 100 more pounds.

When I was young, I had an unrealistic idea of what my body was supposed to look like. Today, I am more realistic.  When I reach my goal weight, I will believe I will be happy with my body for the first time in my life.  It won't be perfect, and I will still probably be trying to shape and sculpt, but I will no longer see myself as the fat girl. I can't wait for that day...

I'm Still A Loser...Baby

I have been doing Weight Watchers since the beginning of the year and have lost 60 pounds. I'm not losing as fast as I was at the beginning, but I'm still losing.

I'm only a pound from my next mini-goal of 245 pounds.  At that point I will truly know that I am below 250 pounds, never to see it again.  Then my next goal is to hit the halfway point in my weight loss (66 pounds lost, or 240 pounds). After that, I am setting my mini-goals at 25 pound intervals until I hit my ultimate goal of 175.  At 6 foot tall, that puts me pretty close to my high school weight...and I was skinny then.

At this point, I can now see myself actually getting under 200 pounds. I don't even know how long it has been since I've been under 200 pounds.  I really need to start exercising again so that my weight loss will go faster.  Being on vacation means I don't have much of a routine as well as feeling like "I'm on vacation, so I'm not going to exercise", but I know I need to.

I am starting to really feel and see a change in my body, both in appearance and how I feel.  I am down two dress sizes and have had to buy new clothes.  I've given away three trash bags full of clothes that are too big.  I can see the change in my face.  I am really glad that my face is thinning. It used to be one of my best features.  I can actually start to look at myself in the mirror again.

I would love to hear people's weight loss success stories.

50 Pounds Down!

I weighed in Tuesday, and I finally hit my 50 pounds-lost goal! And I made it by June 1st. It is such a major step in the process. I still have almost 80 pounds to go until I hit my ultimate weight loss goal, but I know now that I can do it!

One good thing about the fact that it is going to take me well over a year to lose all the weight is that I am really given the time to create a new lifestyle change. Already I have begun to see food differently than I have most of my life. Although I still love food, I no longer love to eat. This is a big step for me. I still really enjoy what I am eating if it is something I really like, but I no longer love the process of eating. Part of this is because I don't let myself eat whatever I want, whenever I want, so I guess I've sort of broke the habit...

I have dropped two dress sizes. I started out at a size 24 (I hate to admit that--and almost ready to grow out of that, and I'm down to a size 20) Luckily, I had saved several pairs of pants and a pair of shorts or two from my "skinnier" days as a size 22 in case I ever lost weight, but I've already dropped down below that, so even some of them are becoming too big. Most of my cropped pants are size 24 and can really no longer be worn. I'm glad to need new pants, but hate to spend money one them when I plan to continue to lose weight. Today I finally had to stop by JC Penny last minute and buy 2 pairs of crops to get me by for the summer. Luckily, I found some on sale. I guess it's a good problem to have!

My next mini-goal is to drop below 250, so I am setting that goal at 245 pounds (safely below 250), so I have almost another 10 to go. Then I will be close to having lost half of the total weight I need to lose (66lbs), so that will be the next mini goal, which will be really close to 75 pounds lost which will be the next goal. I find that setting mini goals help me to keep my spirits up and not just see this as a long, long journey.

A Short "Catch-Up" Note

Just a quick note to check in...

First of all, I've been super busy getting ready for the school play. From about mid-January until mid-April it is about all I do. The play was a little over a week ago and it was awesome! I'm so proud of the kids. Now I just really need to clean up the stage before someone else needs it...

I'm still on my way to becoming a thinner me. Yesterday I weighed in, and I've lost 40.6 pounds so far! That puts me at 265.8 pounds. I have a little goal of trying to reach 50 pounds by the first weigh in of June, so 10 more pounds to go. I know I'll reach 50 pounds lost; I just hope I can do it by June. My next significant "mini" goal is to get below 250 pounds, so I've set 245 as the goal. It's been a long time since I've been under 250. I would guess close to 5 years. 20 more pounds and I'll reach that big (for me) "mini" goal.

I was able to fill a garbage bag up with all my old clothes that are too big! So excited about that. I had saved back some pants/jeans that were a size smaller, so I still have stuff to wear. It's like I have a bunch of new pants!

It's been exciting having people come up to me and say that they are noticing how much I've lost. I'm proud to tell them how much I've lost (although I don't tell everyone where I started).

I've also started walking. I'm walking 2 miles every chance I get. Actually, I just worked up to 2 miles the other day. I walk on the county roads by my house and it is SUPER hilly (Don't forget I live in the Ozarks!)!! I walk at a pretty good clip, especially since I just started and am still pretty out of shape. I did my first 2 mile stretch in 45 minutes. I think that's pretty good considering some of the hills I have to climb.

Keep me in your prayers. Everyday is a small challenge (although it's getting easier). I told myself today that one thing I like better than the food I've given up is hearing people comment on my weight loss!

The New Me...In The Making

I've been doing Weight Watchers since the first of the year and I'm loving it! So far I've lost just over 30 pounds. Last night I hit 10% (I've lost 10% of my beginning weight). Yes...I'm admitting here that I weighed 300 pounds (306 to be exact). OUCH!

I have struggled with weight issues my entire life, but at 6 foot tall, I have been able to "hide" my weight gain easier than most women. In fact, many of my friends and family would be surprised to find that I weighed that much. I have been slowly gaining weight since college. I've probably gained a dress size every year. I have been too embarrassed to admit to any number for so long, but no more, because now I want to brag about how much I have lost!

I had gotten to the point where I was twice as heavy as I was in high school. I still have a very long way to go, but I am committed to this and I actually feel like I can do it. This is a lifestyle change, not a diet for me. It's not been too hard for me so far, and I've been losing pretty fast, but I know that the weight loss will slow down soon. Still, I have no plans to stop. I keep thinking about what I looked like in high school. I'm not sure I will ever be that skinny again, but if I could get within 30 pounds of that, I would be happy.

By the way, I did weight watchers around 6th grade, then there was my skinny period from about 7th grade to senior year of high school. And I thought I was fat the whole time. My friends were all short and tiny, so I compared my dress size to theirs. Not really fair to me. I wish I would have known how skinny and good I looked back then so I could have enjoyed it (and maybe kept that weight!).


So this is prom my junior year. I'm the hot number in the super short black dress. I'm guessing none of my friends will be too upset about me posting this pic because we all looked pretty good (albeit in circa 1993 prom dresses). Yeah...I thought I was overweight and had no self-esteem back then.

So that is the goal. Well, maybe not the real goal, but the dream goal. I still have that dress! And wouldn't I just love to get back into that one day! I'm not really thinking that far ahead yet. Right now I'm hoping to have lost 50 pounds total by June. If I were to keep up my current rate of weight loss, I would be close to 60 pounds by then. Another 30 pounds by the time I'm wearing shorts exclusively would be great. I know I haven't been under 250 for several years.

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers! I'm sure there will come some pretty down moments for me before I reach my goal. Luckily, I'm not doing this to be skinny, I'm doing it for my health. Being thinner is just a bonus!