Huhn?

What? I lost 1.8 pounds again this week! Two good weeks in a row! Am I allowed to do that? Shh, don't tell the Diet Police!

So I'm at 161.4 now, officially crossing the marker of having lost 110 pounds total. I'm only half a pound from meeting my fifth 10% goal (boy, this one is taking long enough -- I passed the fourth one in mid-November!) and I'm solidly on track for the goal I mentioned last week of being below the 160 mark in time for the summer bash in July.

Onward and downward!

Creep Creep Creep

I forgot to post last week: I'd gained a pound. It wasn't unexpected, as I'd kind of splurged with eating out for several days in a row.

This week, I'm back down to 163.2, so my net loss over two weeks was 0.8 pounds. Guess I can't complain too much. And aside from a birthday party this weekend, I don't think I've got any other big splurge occasions for a while, so hopefully I'll be able to stay on track for a bit. I'd really like to be below 160 in time for the Summer Bash in July. (That's 3.5 pounds to lose in about 7 weeks. Given that my rate of loss lately is hovering around half a pound a week... it's possible. If I can manage to stay on plan.)

I'm kind of wondering if I should set my "final" goal at around 155. I have a whole lot of extra skin sitting around these days, left over from being enormously fat and then fat and pregnant. I have a horrible case of granny-arms, and when I stand up, the extra skin from my hips and thighs falls down and bunches up around my knees, which is making me almost more self-conscious about wearing shorts than I was when I was merely fat. If I could afford to have all that excess skin surgically removed, I'd be willing to bet it would drop me by a solid 10-15 pounds. At least. (Also, it might move my boobs back up to my chest from my waist.) Alas, it's not a health hazard and I'm not wealthy, so surgery isn't really an option. And I'm old enough that my skin isn't as elastic as it used to be, and I don't think I can expect it to tighten up very much on its own. So I need to take that 10-15 extra pounds into account when I decide on my final weight.

Counting in favor of that option, by the way, is another sign of progress:  I can actually put my old high school class ring on again. (Yes, I still have it.) In fact, I can even put it on the finger it was originally measured for, though it's a snug fit and I wouldn't want to do any exercising or go out in hot weather with it. But I can get it on and off again. Which is pretty cool.

Anyway, we'll see. As slow as I'm losing these days, I've got plenty of time to decide.

Turnaround

Two years ago, when I was doing the annual benefits re-up, I thought that since I had two kids now, maybe I should sign up for some extra life insurance. There's a base minimum -- no matter what, my family gets one year's salary if I die -- but I can opt in for more than that. I went with the lowest level, to make it a grand total of two years' worth.

Because this was opt-in rather than the required base minimum, I had to submit a medical form. I didn't think anything of it, really... until they turned me down and denied the life insurance extension.

They were explicit about the reason: morbid obesity. It was a sticking point, an eye-opener, and one of the many reasons I started getting serious about getting exercise and losing weight.

Today, I got another letter from the company's life insurance carrier. This time, it was to tell me that this year's request for additional life insurance has been approved.

Of all the triumphs I've had since this whole thing started, it seems odd that this one should feel so huge. But it does, and so here we are.

Superfast

Because things are insane at work today, so I only have a minute to update: weighed in at 164 this morning, so I'm finally over the hump. Here's hoping, anyway.

Keeping my fingers crossed that it'll stay that way; I'm only 3 pounds from my next goalpost.