Goals

When I started this whole weight loss and fitness thing in January, I set as my first goal weight 250 pounds.  At the time, I weighed in at 274.6 pounds on the scale, and when I looked at that number and thought about how much weight I had to lose to be at a healthy BMI, I hyperventilated a little.  Just thinking about losing at least 100 pounds was so overwhelming, so I didn't think of it that way.  I decided to take it in multiples of 25 pounds instead.

I hit my first goal of 250 pounds a couple of weeks ago, and now I am working toward 225 pounds.  The lowest weight I have been since getting married was about 235 pounds, so when I hit my next goal, I will be the lightest I have been in a long, long time.  In fact, I cannot remember the last time I weighed that little.

Now that I am about 31 pounds and almost five months into this journey, I am cautiously allowing myself to think of the bigger picture.  I don't want to set myself up for failure, but I do want to give myself the credit I deserve and get excited about the future.  I recently turned 34, and I have started thinking that my 35th birthday will be good target date for a Big Goal.  And I have set as the goal a weight on my 35th birthday of 200 pounds.

This gives me about a year to lose about 45 pounds.  While it is true that my weight loss has slowed down and that there will be good weeks and bad weeks, I think I should be able to make this goal.  As I move further into the C25K program, I know there will be a day when I will be able to run for exercise without interspersing it with walking sessions.  And once I get through W4 of the program, I plan to add strength training (and therefore longer gym sessions) to my list of activities.  I feel good about this goal and feel it gives me something good to work toward.

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Switching gears, I want to talk about something that is going on over at the blog Jack Sh*t Getting Fit.  Jack is doing a feature on his blog called W.I.D.T.H., which stands for "Why I am doing this here."  In this feature, readers are invited to write on an index card their reasons for getting fit.  The reasons vary from "For my kids" to "Because I want a better life" to "I don't want to die young."  Reading these note cards has shown me that, as much as I feel like most people I know can't understand this journey I am on, there are other people out there who struggle with the same issues I do.  There are people at different stages of their journey, some well into it and some just starting out, and they know what I am feeling.

You know what my note card says?  It says, "Because I am worth it!"  And I am worth it.  It's easy to get down on yourself and feel worthless and useless when you have a problem with food.  When you are in the midst of a binge, it's easy to think that you might as well just keep eating because you don't deserve to be fit and healthy, to be attractive, or to feel good.  However, I know that I am worth it.  And that is why I am doing this here.

Make it a great day, everyone!

Edited to add:

My submission for the W.I.D.T.H. feature: