193.2

Have you ever noticed those bumper stickers on the back of people's cars that say things like 3.1, 13.2 or 26.4?  For awhile I didn't know what those meant.  Now I'm aware that people who have those bumper stickers on their cars have run a 5K, half or full marathon, and those numbers represent how far they ran in miles.  This past week has been monumental in my weight loss journey.  It seemed like every day last week I either lost a significant amount or maintained my current weight.  The climax happened yesterday when I reached my goal of 193 lbs!  Well, 193.2 to be exact, but it's close enough for me and I'll take it (and run with it...literally).  I immediately thought of those running race bumper stickers and figured I needed one that said 193.2 to advertise my accomplishment.  Then I quickly came to the conclusion that while this is a huge accomplishment for me, it's probably not something I want to advertise on the back of my minivan.  In addition, I actually have to be down to 190, so I'm not done yet.  But the representative at the reproductive assistance company I'm going through to be a carrier told me that once I get 3 pounds away to let her know and we can continue the process.  So as soon as I weighed myself I emailed her to let her know.  Of course, she doesn't really work on the weekends, but she did respond to let me know she would contact me on Monday. 

Last night I attended a social get together for my adult Life Group through my church.  It was so fun and there was tons of delicious food.  To celebrate my weight loss victory, what did I do?  Eat, of course!  (It seemed rational at the time, but writing it down  makes it seem very wrong).  I didn't count a single calorie.  Even though I still have a few pounds to go, I rationalized that it's good to have a "cheat" day from time to time, but I fully realize it can only be an occasional thing and I must get right back on the proverbial weight loss wagon immediately.  Let me just state, for the record, that, although I did not specifically count every calorie I put in my mouth, I don't feel as though I went totally crazy.  For one thing, now that I am 30 lbs lighter, I honestly can't eat as much as I used to.  I know my stomach has shrunk some because it seems to take a lot less to make me feel full.  In addition, since I've been counting calories for the past 4 1/2 months, I pretty much know what a serving size and calorie count is of most any food.  I ate one plate of food, which was mostly made up of a very yummy salad, and I had a scoop of the most delicious banana pudding I've ever eaten.  This little jaunt down eat-whatever-you-like-lane resulted in a 2.6 lb weight GAIN when I woke up this morning.  WHAT?  The one pattern I have noticed about my body when it comes to weight loss is once I've achieved a certain weight, even if I have a set back it doesn't usually take long to get back to that if I keep doing what I know to do.  Here's hoping!       

In other news, I've reached new heights on the running front too.  On Friday, Paula and I ran at least a mile and a half...without stopping...and without dying.  Seriously?  A mile and a half?  Me?  If I wasn't there I wouldn't believe it either.  We usually run at this awesome local park called Voice Of America.  It's beautiful!  There's a really pretty lake (or maybe it's a pond -- I don't know) with a running/walking path around it.  There are ducks and trees.  The landscape is very ideal for running, but it all looks about the same the whole way around.  We know the running path around the lake is 1.4 miles.  We start our run with a 5 minute warm up walk.  Then when the app tells us to run, we run until it tells us to stop.  Because we just started running when we were told, we didn't pay super close attention to at what point on the path we actually started running.  We know about where we were and we're confident we ran all the way around once and went a little past where we started running. 

I am starting to get the feeling that runners are made, not born.  Although I still don't love it, in some strange way I do look forward to it.  And I am starting to feel that I might miss it if I stop, or at least wish I was still doing it if I didn't do it anymore.  Weird!

We'll see what this week brings...