10 Pounds Down!

So I hit the 10 pound loss mark this week1 I still have 15 to go, but this was the point where I felt that, hey, this is actually sort of working. I’m only 5 ft, and the first ten pounds took so much longer to lose than anticipated (seriously, since like August). And the first few pounds didn’t even seem like real weight loss because I could never tell if I was just fluctuating, or if one big meal this weekend was going to put me back up to my starting weight. But now, I can actually say that I’ve “lost weight.”

I have to be ok with it taking longer. Even if it takes the same amount of time to lose the next 10, I’ll be at a healthy weight by summer.

And the good thing is that now, I get new milestones. Earlier in 2015, I wasn’t really paying much attention to my weight. I knew over the past couple of years I had put on weight, but I thought it was just about 10 pounds. My good weight is 123, but I still looked good and felt good at 128. So I knew I had gotten up to the high 130s, and that I needed to take that off. But when I stepped on the scale for the first time in a while in 2015, I saw 149 staring at me. It was so demoralizing, thinking you only have 10-15 pounds to lose and realize that you have 25.

But now, I’m down to 139, the weight I thought I was at to begin with. Which means that everything seems more attainable. The past few months, I was losing to get back down to my “original overweight weight.” Now, I can actually start feeling like I’m making progress. Once I hit 135, I’ll be the lowest weight I’ve been in 2+ years. And only 10 more pounds until I’m in a healthy weight range.

Things I’ve learned through this so far:
-Every pound counts. All you have to do is lose a pound, and then repeat.
-Some people don’t lose the initial water weight to jumpstart their weight loss. It took so long to lose the first pound. Don’t give up.
-I was really jealous of people who consistently lose 1 pound per week. I think I’ve averaged .3-.5 pounds per week. All I can say is, every tenth of a pound adds up. Do I wish I were at my final goal now? Of course. But am I glad I started when I did? Absolutely. If I hadn’t started, I wouldn’t be ten pounds down now.
-Everything is CICO. I spent probably two years saying that I needed to lose weight, and “tried” everything. I worked out more. I tried to eat “more sensibly.” I ate only nonprocessed/clean foods for a month. If I had only just tracked my food and made sure I was in a deficit in the first place, everything would have been so much easier.