Weight Loss Goals

Image from 123RF Stock Photos

A couple of people have asked me about how my weight loss is going. To be honest, I fell off the wagon a bit. Things have been so busy and so stressful; August alone was soul-suckingly awful. I haven't been as vigilant as I should be, and I turned to comfort food much too often, thus I haven't lost as much weight as I could have. But overall, I haven't gained (had a couple of brief periods of gaining back a pound or two (or three), but lost them again), and I have lost a little bit more for a total of 34 pounds (15.4 kg) to date, so it's still a victory in my book.

Something people have been frequently asking me in person is "how far do you plan to go?" Um, as far as I feel like? I know that sounds like a flippant answer, but I mean it quite seriously. There will come a point that I am not willing to eat fewer calories and/or work out any harder (which I am not doing yet, BTW, but I really should be; baby steps). Whatever that point is, that's where I'll stop, whether I've "reached goal" or not. Anything lower than where I am now (or was in January) is a good thing, and I need to get to a point that I know I can maintain without killing myself. Do I have a number in mind? Sure, and I'll talk about that a little bit below, but if I never get there, that's okay! This is about improving and taking better care of my body, not reaching some theoretical number on a scale.

I belong to an online group where we share our weight loss triumphs and struggles. Recently, someone asked about rewards to stay motivated, and yes, I do have a few in mind. But I've actually found something that is much more motivating for me personally. A couple of years ago when I thought I was going to try to lose weight again (yeah, that didn't really work), I made the basic workings of the list you see below. It chronicles various weight milestones for me over my life. Being able to look at a number and say "this is the first time I have weighed this since..." has been incredibly inspiring! Yes, I'm about to reveal my actual weight, and yes, it is a shockingly scary and embarrassingly high number. But it is what it is, and there is no use hiding it. Not like you all didn't know I was/am super overweight from the photos I've posted, right? So, here we go:

Sheer Numbers (italics are goals I have already reached):

• 282 (127.9 kg) - highest ever weight recorded on my home scale, circa 2008; I've kept it below 280 since then
• 278 (126.1 kg) - official starting weight - January 2, 2013
• 261 (118.4 kg) - lowest weight in the last 3 years (from August 2011) - April 1, 2013
• 253 (114.8 kg) - 25 pounds lost! - May 16, 2013
• 250 (113.4 kg) - 10% of starting body weight lost, plus nice round numbers are pleasing to engineer types - June 26, 2013
• 243 (110.2 kg) - lowest post-baby weight I can remember (son was born in 2004, probably weighed this sometime in 2006) - September 12, 2013
• 235 (106.6 kg) - official pre-baby weight
• 228 (103.4 kg) - 50 pounds lost!!
• 222 (100.7 kg) - 20% of starting body weight lost; in metric fun, 25 kg lost
• 218 (98.9 kg) - no longer being morbidly obese (BMI less than 40 = "just" obese); in metric fun, I will be under 100 kg
• 209 (94.8 kg) - don't remember anything on the scale reading lower than 210+ since I got married (didn't own a scale for years)
• 203 (92.1 kg) - 75 pounds lost!
• 199 (90.3 kg) - no longer being over 200 pounds!!
• 194 (88 kg) - 30% of starting body weight lost
• 178 (80.7 kg) - 100 pounds lost!!!; also, what I weighed when I graduated from college/got married
• 170 (77.1 kg) - what my driver's license says I weigh (oops!)
• 167 (75.7 kg) - 40% of starting body weight lost; in metric fun, 50 kg lost
• 164 (74.4 kg) - no longer being obese (BMI less than 30 = overweight)
• 153 (69.4 kg) - 125 lbs lost!!
• 149 (67.6 kg) - my doctor's suggestion of an okay weight for me (less than 150)
• 139 (63.5 kg) - 50% of my starting body weight lost; theoretical "goal weight"
• 135 (61.2 kg) - my "stretch goal" of my typical high school weight; also a "normal" BMI of 24.7 (BMI less than 25 = "normal")
• 125 (58 kg) - my "yeah right" goal of 150 pounds lost! also represents my lowest ever full-height weight (junior year/grade 11, 1992-1993)

Remember, though, there is always more to losing weight than just the numbers on the scale. There are other kinds of milestones and accomplishments that can mark and/or demonstrate weight loss progress. These are referred to as "non-scale victories." I have no idea at what weight (number on a scale) any of these things will happen, so they may happen out of order from what is listed. Here are some of my other goals for this journey!

Non-Scale Goals (italics are goals I have already reached):

• To be able to wear most size 24 pants (the max of many plus-size departments); currently at a 26/28 depending on style and cut - June 2013
• To be able to wear size 24/3X at JCPenney - July 4, 2013
• To wear my 18-inch necklace and not feel like it is too tight - September 12, 2013
• To actually have knuckles on my hand below my fingers when I make a fist (I have one tiny one; I would like to have 4 on each hand)
• To no longer have dimples where my knuckles should be when my hand is out flat
• To buy something that fits at Old Navy, even if it is from the plus department
• To be able to wear my college class ring - September 1, 2013
• To be able to wear my original wedding rings
• To be able to wear my wedding dress
• To buy something from the petite department instead of the plus/women's department (even if it is a size 16P, as long as it's not a size 16WP)
• To feel (relatively) comfortable when sitting in an airplane seat
• To buy something that fits at Old Navy from the regular department
• To be comfortable wearing a "babydoll" style t-shirt (I have one in mind)
• To be able to wear and feel comfortable in the blue silk dress I wore to my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party
• To weigh less than my husband for the first time ever (when we met, I weighed 130 and he weighed 125 (scrawny non-butt teenager! LOL; he does weigh more than that now))
• To feel comfortable wearing a sleeveless shirt in public
• To not be completely mortified to wear a bathing suit in public

I imagine many women have trouble with those last couple, so I won't fret too much if I never achieve those. I never wore sleeveless shirts when I was thin because the acne on my arms was *so* bad. Now that I don't have that problem, I think they're too fat. If I lose the weight, I'll likely think they're too flabby! Not sure I'll ever win that battle, but I'll surely give it a try.

Currently feeling: slowly but surely getting there