7/15/2012: Week 20 - Will I Be Halfway to Goal Tomorrow?

7/15/2012 187.8 Pounds, 36.2 Pounds Lost to Date

2/26/2012 224.0 Pounds, Start Photo

Tomorrow morning I weigh-in at the end of 20 weeks of exercising 6 days a week for an hour a day and eating approximately 1500 calories or less per day.  I started with the goal of losing 74 pounds in 48 weeks.  I am hoping (HOPING in all CAPS, actually) to weigh 187.0 pounds tomorrow morning, because that will be exactly 37 pounds lost, or half-way to my goal weight of 150 pounds, in exactly 20 weeks. That just seems so neat and tidy, doesn't it?

But no matter what the scale reads tomorrow morning, the pictures above speak for themselves.  It is not hard to see the results of all of the commitment, discipline and hard work that I have been putting into my "Get Healthy Initiative" over the last 20 weeks.  Sometimes I get frustrated, sometimes it seems like it is going to take forever to get to 150 pounds, sometimes I am convinced that exercise is just another word for torture; but when I look at these photos and remind myself that this has only taken 20 weeks, I know it is all paying off and that over the next 20 - 28 weeks I will be able to lose the remaining 37 pounds.  Yes, it is going to be hard work.  I imagine I will hit a few more plateaus losing the last 37 pounds than I did losing the first 37, but I have 8 extra weeks to lose that second half in, since I lost the first half in only 20 weeks!  I have been encouraged by both Ruth (my sister) and Jeremy (my trainer) to add 30 minutes of exercise at the end of the day.  I have to say I am not ready to commit to another 30 minutes of exercise per day, 6 days a week, but I also have to admit that adding 30 minutes of exercise on days that I don't have something else going on in the evenings makes a lot of sense.  Therefore, it seems as if a compromise is in order!  This week, starting with today, I will add 3 extra 30 minute workouts to my established routine.  Those workouts may be as simple as a brisk walk, or it may be a 2 mile jog...that's about all I want to commit to at the moment...but I am committing to adding a minimum of 3 thirty minute evening walks per week, to my routine for the next 28 weeks.

Until tomorrow's weigh-in...