Landmarkes and Mileposts

I'm at 182 this morning, which means I lost 1.2 this week and 91 total. I finally passed the 90-pound mark, yay!

I've been averaging about a pound a week for the last three months, so if that holds, I should hit my fourth 10% goal in about three weeks. I should figure out what my reward will be for that pretty soon, eh?

(It may turn out to be more than 3 weeks, though, as I've got a lot of speedbumps between now and then, including book club tonight, Hallowe'en this weekend, my birthday next weekend, and then a trip to visit family the weekend after that. We'll see how it goes, I guess.)

At any rate, I'm hoping to get there before the end of November. And from there, it's only another 5 pounds to my next exciting landmark: I'll finally be saying farewell to the "obese" tag and falling into the merely "overweight" category! Even allowing a few extra weeks for things to stall out a bit around Christmas, I should make that milestone by the end of January.

And if I stay at about 1 pound/week, then I could get to the "normal" category -- which coincides with my 6th and final 10% goal -- by the end of next summer. (My 5th 10% goal will happen somewhere in the spring, by this estimation.) And then I'll try to figure out where I want my final goal weight to be, and hopefully get there by around this time next year.

It seems like a long way off, but it's been a while since I've done any long-range goal-setting. My original goal (almost exactly a year ago) was to be under 200 by the end of September, and I beat that by a couple of months. I'd rather plan realistically than ambitiously.

But that's the end of the road that I can see. The end of it. A year ago, I wasn't sure I could even get below 200. Next year at this time, I hope to be figuring out the ins and outs of maintenance after having lost very close to half my starting weight. Two years, give or take, to lose 130 pounds, give or take. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Here's to the coming year.

Chugging Along

Didn't post yesterday because I didn't have my little chart with me. But here it is: I'm down to 183.2 pounds, which is just 0.2 away from reaching the "90 pounds lost" milestone. That's 2.2 for the week -- unless you take into account the inexplicable, 1-day-only uptick I had last week on Wednesday. If you assume I was actually at 185 last week, then this was a 1.8 loss. Either way, pretty darned good, for lately.

I'm trying to remember to eat my activity points, either the day I earn them or the day after. I didn't quite manage it last week, mostly because work was doing this crazy thing where I was working absurd hours (no, really -- I went into the office at 10AM Sunday and didn't leave until 3:30 Monday morning) and it completely threw my eating out of joint. I'm actually really proud of myself for sticking to the diet through all that and not diving headfirst into the pizza and Chinese food that was being offered around.

So I really don't know whether it was the stress or the eating of APs or the screwed up sleep or what that helped me along. We'll see what happens, I suppose.

Did I mention that my brand new size 40-D bras are all on their tightest hooks, already? It's snug, but it's there. Which means it's about time for me to order some 38s. The "D" portion is still a bit in question -- I have to moosh things around to get everything to fit in the cups right, so I'm about half-pondering ordering 38-DDs instead of 38Ds. But I'm excited that I can see the end of the 40s.

It's worth noting that I was a 36C in high school, and a 38C in college -- and given the way boobs change for pregnancy and then don't change back, 38D may be the smallest chest size I can hope for. It's also worth noting that it's exclusively my chest that's keeping me from moving solidly into size Medium clothes -- when Ms don't fit, it's because they pull awkwardly across my boobs. Another couple of inches will probably get me into Ms for good, but if I'm giving up hope of a C cup, I might also have to give up hope of ever getting into a Small.

(Given that I started out at a 3X, though... I can live with M. Y'know?)

Danger Zone approaching. Hallowe'en looms! But aside from the caramel candy corn (which I'd happily eat by the pound), I'm not too terribly tempted, this year. If candy gets put in front of me, I'd certainly eat it (let's be honest) but I'm not eying the fun-sized chocolates and nerds and laffy taffy up on top of our fridge with unbridled longing, like I was last year. I think I'll be okay with 2-3 pieces on Hallowe'en night, and then making sure the rest all gets passed out to the neighborhood kids.

Matt and I talked about my birthday, and I suggested that I make my own cake/cupcakes/whatever -- that way I can both pick a lower-point option and have more confidence in my serving sizes. Of course, that means I need to start researching my options.

The weekend after my birthday, I'm taking a trip to Atlanta, so that will probably interfere with my diet a bit, but the family I'm staying with is extremely health-conscious, so it should only be a real problem on the travel days (airport food, whee) and if we're eating at the zoo or aquarium or other tourist-y places with standard junk food fare.

Clawing My Way

Pff. I dropped to 185 Friday morning, spent the rest of the week there, and then -- naturally! -- popped up to 185.4 this morning, so officially I only lost 0.6 pounds last week, 87.6 total.

At least it's not another maintain. I missed a workout this week, and ate out twice on Saturday, and had chocolate cake last night (which might account for this morning's bump up, actually -- concentrated sugar makes me retain water for a bit).

The fact that Saturday's indulgences on top of Friday's lack of exercise didn't affect my weight does make me wonder if it's time for me to start playing around with, oddly, eating a little bit more. Specifically: I wonder if I ought to start eating my Activity Points, within, say, 24 hours of earning them. It's not like I rack up a lot of them; usually 3 points at a time. That's an apple and a half-cup of milk. Or a yogurt and a couple of crackers. Or two slices of low-fat cheese. (I've been craving dairy lately; can you tell? Might need to step up the calcium intake a bit.) Also, I should buy some more fruit and snack healthier when I'm trying to use up points to get to my minimum for the day. Jello sugar-free mousse cups are very tasty (2.5 points for 2 cups!) but possibly not quite in the spirit of the law, as it were.

Other signs of progress, though: I finally got around to ordering new bras. The 40D fits! I'm down to a D cup! (Though it's a bit of a squeeze, so I might have to go back up to a DD for certain styles.) The 40 part is definitely not a squeeze, though. Fresh out of the packaging, all three bras fit comfortably on the middle set of hooks, and two of them fit (snugly) on the tightest set. I might have waited a little too long to order those, hehe.

I tried on the too-tight Medium shirts with the new bras, and it no longer looks completely ridiculous, though I'm still not quite ready for them, yet. (Which means I still need to buy a few more long-sleeved shirts for the fall/winter. Even with my heater running, my office is freezing half the time.)

Any way, I'm not backsliding, but I really need to get a grip and start paying closer attention. The Danger Zone is only two weeks away: Hallowe'en, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Matt's birthday, and then the whole Christmas season... I need to set goals and plan strategies and stick to it!

One Year Later

On October 8, 2008, I joined Weight Watchers Online. Mostly because I'd been goaded to by my therapist, and also because I was tired of feeling left out by all my friends who were doing WW.

I didn't take a "before" shot. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I expected it to be a depressingly long time before I'd be able to see a difference. But this picture was taken about two months before I joined, and I can pretty much guarantee I didn't lose any weight between this picture and when I joined.


Six months later, I was closing in on 50 pounds lost, and even I could see the difference.

At the nine month mark, I was down nearly 75 pounds.

And now, it's been a full 52 weeks. I've lost a year, I've lost the therapist (she wasn't that much help anyway), and most of all, I've lost more than 85 pounds.

I can't see much difference between the last two pictures. Part of that is the difference between summer and winter clothes, and part of it is that there's only about 15 pounds of difference there -- I've slowed down a lot, the last few months. But just for reference, the summer clothes are a size L, and the fall clothes are a size M. I can't wear every M I try on, yet, but I'm getting there.



As of this morning, I weigh 186 (no change this week). Which means that over the last year, I've lost 87 pounds.

My two kids together weigh less than that. That's nearly eleven full jugs of milk (11 gallons, less one pint, to be precise). And I used to carry it around with me, all the time.

Not losing is irritating when I've been feeling deprived all week anyway. This crawling pace I've suddenly dropped to can be frustrating, even disheartening. At least it's crawling in the right direction. But I'll be frustrated another day. Today, it's time to pause and celebrate just how far I've come.

I'm not done yet -- I'm still technically obese, according to the BMI charts, in fact. But I think I'm allowed, just this once, to pause and pat myself on the back. And to be impressed that I can reach my own back again. And cross my legs. And squat down to pick up my son. And a dozen other things that, one year ago, I couldn't even consider.

Happy diet-versary, me. Here's to another year of being a loser.