Weigh-In Thursday

In an attempt to talk about something besides jewelry I thought I would give an update on my weight loss efforts. I weight in on Thursdays so today seemed like a good day. I am finishing up my 6th month on Weight Watchers (roughly) and am slowly approaching my second weight loss goal (to be the same weight I was on my wedding day 8 years ago). As of today I have lost 32.4 pounds! I am of course delighted with my progress. Overall, following the program has been relatively simple and I rarely feel deprived (I make sure to have an ice cream sundae every night!). I would venture to guess that Greg has been very happy with the program too considering all the crazy diets he has lived through my trying. I still have a way to go to my "lifetime" goal as they call it in Weight Watchers but at this point I am so happy where I am I wouldn't care if I never made it any further.

That being said, I realized a startling thing. When I was this weight 8 years ago (and for many years before that since I was about the same weight for almost 10 years) I was MISERABLE! I was always scheming and planning ways to lose weight. I always wanted to be 20 pounds lighter and because of that I LOATHED my body. Now here I am back at that weight and I love my body for the first time in 15 years and so delighted to be where I am. I can't help but think, if I had just loved myself back then and exerted a tiny bit of effort to MAINTAIN my weight were it was I could have saved myself 8 years of weight fluctuation and drama. Isn't that always the way!

Another thing I have noticed is that because the weight has come off so slowly (some weeks I lose 0.2 pounds or 0 pounds) I hardly notice the difference. I mean sure, I have been buying smaller clothes and occasionally I pull an old shirt out of the closet that I used to have to stretch to close but now I am swimming in it. And yes, people often make comments that I look very different but sometimes I look down at myself and think, did I really lose 30 pounds? I don't FEEL that different. So I keep photos on my computer at work that I look at to remind myself how far I have come and to encourage me when the weight loss seems to be taking forever or I want to go in and eat half the birthday cake in the lunch room. Since I LOVE before and after photos I thought I would put together an example. This week I actually gained .4 pounds. Not a big deal since I know it is PMS related but a little sad since it is my first gain in 6 months, so this photo is extra encouraging today. The before on the left was taken last March I think (that is one of Libby's cute twins in my arms). I was not quite at my heaviest wearing a size 14/16. On the right was the photo taken two weekends ago wearing a size 10/12. I like this comparison because I am in the same position so I can really see the difference. I look at this photo and think, yeah its working. Don't get discouraged!