My weight loss efforts continue to be rewarded with steady, albeit gradual, results. This morning I weighed in at 202 pounds for a total weight loss of 22 pounds over the last eleven and a half weeks. I am still below my line and keeping on track towards my goal of losing 74 pounds by February 4th, 2013. I know I have talked about it before, but the most effective tool in my arsenal is definitely the chart I am keeping on my bathroom wall. When I think about eating something I shouldn't eat or skipping exercise, I invariably think about the next time I have to mark my chart and how much I hate it, and I mean really hate it, when my line goes up instead of down. That visualization of me having to make that red line go the wrong direction on my chart is almost always enough to get me to make a good choice when it comes to food and exercise.
I find myself staring at the chart in the mornings, physching myself up for the day, imagining the line going down the next time I mark the chart. It is a very powerful tool that is much more effective than I imagined it would be. I hadn't thought about it before, but I need to give credit where credit is due. This gargantuan chart on my bathroom wall was not my original idea. I have always kept charts on excel spreadsheets but my brother, George, had told me about a poster board chart that he made for his wall. He encouraged me to do the same but I resisted the idea for a month or two. But, finally, when I knew I was serious about this goal, I also knew I needed to give this a try. In my own fashion, I modified his idea by adding the weekly photos and comments to the chart, which I really like. But that original, big-in-my-face-chart-on-the-bathroom-wall idea belongs with George. I'm grateful for the inspiration and encourage anyone that needs to lose weight to add this tool to his or her bag of tricks.
All in all, I am doing well on my journey. I have my ups and downs. There are those moments when I feel disgusted with myself for ever letting myself get this heavy and when I think this is going to take forever. But there are other moments when I realize that I am already 1/4 done with my 48 week plan and it hasn't been that bad. I only need to do what I have already done 3 more times and I will have reached my goal weight. I have a hard time imagining what that will be like, since it has been so long since I weighed 150 pounds, but I know it will be good. I weighed 175 pounds about 4 years ago and I know I liked that! It's hard to visualize 25 fewer pounds, but I will be esctatic when all I need to do to see what 150 pounds looks like is look in the mirror! 36 weeks. I can do it!
Diet and exercise. The combination is working. I counted calories for several weeks, which helped a lot, but I haven't been counting calories for about two weeks now. I got out of the habit when we were on vacation in San Diego. So far, not counting calories hasn't impacted my eating negatively, so we'll see how it goes for a while. If I find I am starting the slide to eating too much and not getting the results on the scale, I'll start counting again. The weather is amazing! I'm enjoying my lunch at the park...
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