Medium

When I started to change my eating habits at the end of January I was tired of being fat and tired. 

When I started my BMI (body mass index) was 30, which is in the obese category.

At 5'7" I weighed 204 pounds on a good day, more on a bad. 

"This time" I was determined to lose weight in a healthy sustainable way.  

"This time" I knew I had to make changes that I could stick to for the rest of my life.  

My goal was to lose 45 pounds and get down to the normal range BMI of 25.  I reached that goal in September. It took eight months, but except for having to give up a few things, it really wasn't all that hard.

Once I reached my goal, I knew I had to continue eating in the same way I had been, and continue to do daily exercise.  The only real change I have made since reaching my goal, was to stop recording and analyzing every bit of food I consumed in a food journal.  

I weigh myself ever day, and if I start to gain, I will go back to the journaling.

I am determined to keep it off this time! 

In the month since I reached my goal I have lost an additional five pounds. An amazing total loss of 50 pounds! 

I weighed in at 154 pounds this morning.

My BMI is now 24.1 (Normal is 18 - 25)

I have lost 23% of my body weight, and feel great.

In this picture I am wearing a T-shirt my grandson tie-dyed for me as a Christmas gift two years ago. Although I liked it very much, it stayed in the closet because it was too small. I felt like my arms were stuffed into sausage skins. It fits now and is very comfortable.

I am not big on fashion. For years I have worn the same brand of black pants. I buy them at K-Mart. I had some from this time last year that were almost impossible to keep up. They were Extra Large. I bought some Large ones in spring, and they too have become very loose.  

Last week I ordered several pair from K-Mart online, and bravely selected Medium size. After ordering them I told Craig I wondered if they would fit. I expected to have to return them.

They arrived yesterday, and fit beautifully! For the fist time in years I am a Medium! I feel so good about it.

But, I remind myself of and old expression my mother used to say when any of us became too prideful.

"Don't hurt your arm patting yourself on the back."

I know that maintaining this weight loss is going to be a new challenge for me.  

Last week as I was going thru a stack of papers in the studio I came across a calendar from 2008. I had kept it because it had nice animal pictures, but it also serves as a reminder of how vulnerable I am. It is the record of one of my past weight loss efforts. Over a period of five months I recorded my weight each day.  I lost 30 pounds. As I recall it took less than five months to regain it!

Do any of you remember Oprah's weight loss in 1988? Remember how she pulled a little red wagon containing 67 pounds of fat onto the stage? 

Then over the next year or so we watched her balloon back up. It was so discouraging. If she couldn't keep it off, how could I?

I'm hoping that by blogging about it I will be adding one more incentive to succeed. I want to be able to post that I have kept the weight off from time to time.  

But I won't hurt my arm.

For me, the hardest thing will be to continue  saying "no" to a glass or two of wine in the evening. But I know that would be like drinking poison for me. I know "once in a while" would slip into "just on weekends", would slide back to "everyday".  

Wish me luck. And keep posting good low calorie recipes. I love to experiment.