Down 9.6 lbs in first three weeks. This works!

That's great!

I have 60 lbs left to go (down from 75 at the beginning of this year), and it does feel like a LOT sometimes. But it took a long time for me to put it on, so it will take time to take it off, and knowing that helps. One thing I've done that might be helpful for you, if you haven't already, is to set little rewards along the way to break it up into smaller pieces. I'm three and a half pounds away from a new haircut, for instance, and at my halfway point I'm going to have a fun shopping trip to buy some new-to-me clothes, since the stuff I'm wearing now really won't fit then. It gives me something to look forward to besides just that far-off number.

I’m big on mind games. It helped me to not only break it into smaller chunks, but to silently celebrate progress within those mini goals as I went along.

First goal twenty pounds? In 12 more ounces you’ll have completed 50% of goal#1! That’s a win!

Re: your bathing suit, this sounds mental, but I found a really cute pencil dress at TJ Maxx, probably the equivalent to about a size 8. I started out as a 22W. The dress was only $12.99 so no great investment, but it was adorable and I wanted to wear it so bad.

I hung that dress sideways in the closet so it was the first thing I’d see it full on every time I walked in. I touched it every day, stroked it, talked to it, told it one day we’d be together, lol. (If it had had a soul, it probably would have replied,”In your dreams, fat girl”. )

The day I wore it was memorable.

Concrete, touchable goals were very, very helpful to me.

Hang that swim suit up and talk to the damn thing!