6/10/2016: This Last Few Pounds

Weight:  153.8

This last few pounds will be the hardest.  I'm close enough to my goal weight that I feel comfortable with my body's size.  I know I don't need to lose any more weight and at this point 150.0 is just a number on the scale.  I could stay at 153.something for the rest of my life, eat right, and exercise daily and be every bit as healthy as I'll be at 150.0.  At least I think that's true.  I don't think losing 4 more pounds is going to make me healthier or make me look better or make me be better in any tangible way.  But 90% of weight loss and 98% of weight loss maintenance is intangible, it is a mental game and in order to succeed at this I need to keep my brain in the game.

Getting to 150.0 pounds and making that my target goal for life is part of my mental game.  The number on the scale is something I can see and measure on a daily basis.  To keep myself interested in the game I have to keep my eye on the prize, yet the prizes of health and strength and long life (awesome prizes, indeed!) are so far removed from what I choose to consume this very minute and from what I decide to do (exercise vs. sit on my butt) this very minute, that it's easy to lose sight of why I am doing what I'm doing.  If I eat too much today, if I don't exercise today, it will not have significant impact on my long term health and well being.  It will have an impact on how much I weigh tomorrow.  The temptation to eat snacks after dinner is great.  A few squares of organic dark chocolate always sounds good.  I enjoy a glass of wine in the evenings.  The fact of the matter is I can do those things once in a while and not gain weight, but most of the time I need to be on program or the pounds will creep back up.  I know this from experience.  Having 150.0 as my goal weight and my target maintenance weight forces me to be disciplined most of the time.  That is incredibly important to me.

I picked 150.0 pounds because it's a nice round number and I like nice round numbers.  I feel terrific at 150.0.  I happen to think I look terrific, too!  I also knew it would be a stretch goal, something I'd have to work hard to attain.  There is something very satisfying about attaining a stretch goal.  At the same time it's not even getting close to being too skinny.  I was super healthy at 135 at one point of my adult life.  For a little while I thought I wanted to make that my goal, but it is totally not necessary.  150.0 feels good to me.  It's healthy, I still feel and look robust, it's difficult but not impossible to get there.  When I get there I will feel like I have accomplished something and I will not want to give it up.  So, yes, if you were wondering about it, 150.0 is just a number on the scale.  A number I picked as my target weight.  I'm happy with it and I am going to get there and stay there, even though these last few pounds are going to be difficult to lose.

Have a great day!!