30 Pounds Down

Although I was not expecting anything good to come out of the weigh in this week I was pleasantly surprised and shocked to see that I was down 2.2 pounds bringing my total to 30.2. I'm always happy when my weight is down but there is something special when I hit a 10 pound goal. I always seem to struggle a bit when I'm coming up to a new 10 pound increment so maybe that is why I get so excited or maybe it's just that it seems like I'm actually making progress.

I do think that breaking my weight loss into 5 and 10 pound increments for goals has been incredibly helpful. It is a big enough difference that I have to push myself to get to the goal but it is not so daunting that I get discouraged. I guess it keeps me from thinking about how far I have to go. I know I have said before about not focusing on the weight as a measure of success but you know it still feels good when you start to see your total number lost go up.

For me every pound I can take off lets me feel that I'm getting closer and closer to everything I want. Don't get me wrong I don't think that I need to lose weight to be successful or to feel happy. I do however think that I need to lose weight to live the life I imagine for myself. So every pound that I lose pushes me one step closer to that image in my head. It allows me to become more active and to do the activities that I enjoy with out the struggle of doing it carrying the weight of 2 other people.

Last year when I turned 30 I knew that it was time to make a change. Now as my birthday is quickly approaching again I can look back on this year and be proud of the strides I have made. Next year when this time rolls around and i'm getting ready to turn 32 I know that I will have even more to be proud of. I will no longer look back on my year with regret or feel disappointed that I'm another year older. The reality is that every year I get stronger, smarter and more focused. I no longer think that getting older is a bad thing, it just means I have more experience to help push me further.

So with that I wish myself a Happy Birthday and will work hard not to let the birthday cake get the better of me for next week's weigh in :-)