TEN POUNDS!

Well, I am so happy to share that I have officially dropped the first ten pounds, and it's only been 3.5 weeks! I can't believe it! My first goal already seems so attainable. I set a realistic goal when I started this program, because frankly I wasn't sure how successful I was going to be. I heard stories of it working well for other people, but I was skeptical anyway. So, my first goal was very realistic. I guess I will just share my weight, which is not something I thought I would be comfortable doing, but I guess I'd rather just address the elephant in the room instead of tiptoeing around it. (I'm sure there's a good fat joke involved with the phrase "elephant in the room" but I'm just not gonna go there right now. I have more class than that. And besides, I can't think of anything.)

Ok... deep breath... so here goes. I started the program at 221 pounds, which was nearly four weeks ago. I hit 211 two days ago, which is almost halfway to my initial goal. I chose to set my goal at 199 pounds for two reasons: one, obviously I wanted to revel in the fact that I was once again under 200 pounds, and two, I wanted to lose 10% of my body weight because of how dramatically it lowers my risk of disease (by 50%!!!) and increases my life expectancy (by 10 years!!!). It was just kind of convenient that 22 lbs was both 10% of my body weight AND exactly what I needed to lose to get under 200 lbs.

I am actually now down 39 lbs from my heaviest weight. When I gained 60 lbs back in 2005 (while on birth control, aka satan pills) it put me up to 250. :( It's horrible to think about, because I honestly had no idea I was gaining so much and I cannot imagine my body ever having 39 more pounds on it than right now. But it did. Blah. The good news is, wow, 39 lbs GONE! And they are really gone. I am not going back there EVER. It took me several diet attempts over 4 years to lose that first 29 lbs. Of course, I've got some grace for myself because I had a baby and that does things to your body. But I am still in shock that it's only taken me 3.5 weeks to lose 10 lbs. I just can't believe it. At this rate I will reach my goal by Easter.

But once I reach my goal I am just going to set another one. I mean, why would I stop when I feel like I've been given the secret to weight loss? Really and truly, it's that easy. It's like someone is sitting in front of me, telling me, "Here, eat this" every 3 hours, and magically I eat it and lose weight. And it's not unhealthy weight loss either! I wouldn't do a program that made my heart race because of stimulants, or was full of aspartame or preservatives or other nasty chemicals. This stuff is really good. There is no magic ingredient that makes your body lose weight. It is just the right amount of carbs, proteins, sugars, vitamins and minerals eaten at the right times of the day to make your body work like it's supposed to and stop clinging to your fat as though you're storing up for winter.

I swear, the more I write the more I sound like an infomercial. I'm just so flipping excited to have found something that is WORKING. I have done low cal, low carb, high produce diets... I have tried so many different food combos. I have burned myself out trying to lose weight and it's just silly and stupid. I am so happy that I am doing something for my body that is real and is going to last. I'm even thinking about becoming a health coach myself because I can't stop talking about how great this program is and I want to help people be as happy as I am. I know what it feels like to be disgusted when you look in the mirror, or to cry in a dressing room because nothing fits, or to eat til you feel sick because you just have given up and feel like there's no hope anyway. I don't ever want to go back there, and I don't want other people to go there either. I want to help people realize that there is hope. You CAN change.

I think one of the reasons that my initial weight loss goal was so low is because four weeks ago I genuinely believed that I was incapable of ever being a small person. I have said "Well, I will probably always be overweight..." more times than I can count and I always figured "If I could only get back to the size I was 5 years ago" then I would be content. But for the first time, quite seriously, in my entire life I feel like I can really do this. I WILL reach my initial goal of 199 pounds. And guess what? Then I will set a goal of 175 pounds. I have NEVER thought I could get that low, and I want to prove to myself that I can do what I thought was impossible. And when I reach 175 pounds, guess what? I WILL set a goal of 145 pounds. 145 would put me in a healthy BMI range for my height. I have never thought that I could reach a healthy BMI weight. Not once in my entire life have I believed that I could reach a healthy weight. I've always set my goals low enough so I could actually reach them. But not anymore. I'm not content with "good enough". I'm gonna do this and now I know how. And it feels FANTASTIC.