This is an exciting time as well as a frustrating time during my weight loss journey. My first goal has always been to get under 250. I'm now at 252 and these last few pounds seem to be taking forever. When I get to 249 I figure I will make a goal of 239, and so on. But for now I just really want to get to 249. I’ve come a long way, true….and those first 30 pounds came off rather quickly, but lately my weight loss has had a couple of stalls and has slowed to a pound a week or so.

I started this way of life well over 300lbs and when I changed the way I ate, I also changed the way I lived. I started working out at the gym, riding my bike, doing Pilates, and so on. When I started at the gym, I could barely do 20 min on the treadmill on the most basic setting at 3.2 mph and there were a number of machines that I couldn't do because I couldn't fit on them. Last week I worked out 5 days: on Monday I rode 20 miles on our town's bike trail on a fixed gear bike, Wednesday morning I got up at 5 and lifted weights at the gym beginning with 30min on the treadmill before work and I went back at 5:30 for a Pilates class. I got up again early on Friday and did 30 min on the treadmill doing intervals before I lifted weights. I took Saturday off for yard work and went back to the gym on Sunday for weights.

The point of this ramble is not just pat myself on the back, (maybe a little) but to tell myself I am making progress even though the weight isn't coming off as fast as I would like it to. I've gone from 42 waist pants and 3xl shirts to XL and 38's and my 38's and XL shirts are now loose. I can't quite get into 36's but it's not too far off. I wish I had done measurements when I started but I didn’t. All I have to go by is the scale and my clothes. I put on a nice pair of slacks and a shirt for work today that I hadn’t worn in years (they were stuck way back in the closet) and they’re almost falling off of me. When I tell people I weigh 250 they don’t believe it, I’m guessing that I’ve built some muscle and have moved the weight around.

It’s taken a long time but I’m just now starting to get compliments. It’s weird, even when I went from 315 to 275, a whopping 40lbs, hardly anyone noticed. It’s taken getting closer to 250 for people to begin to see a difference. That part’s been hard. After dropping 20, 30, 40lbs, you expect to get a few compliments but there were none. That’s the problem with a starting point in the “obese” category; 5 or 10 or 20 means very little when you’re over 300.

So…..to sum up: Life is good. I still have a long way to go but I feel good about the path I’m on. I’m at peace now with the scale. I know there’s a lot more to me than that number. Six months ago I couldn’t make it up a flight of stairs without having to stop and take a break and now when I go the store I park at he back of the parking lot on purpose. I flew a few weeks ago and was comfortable. I'm looking forward to the summer and taking my kids to a theme park knowing I can fit on the rides. And I will be taking my shirt off at the pool this summer.

Cleave