So the scale announced this morning (well, actually, early this afternoon) that I am starting out the new year and the new decade at 236.6 lbs. I am not complaining: that's 27.6 pounds lighter than a year ago today. It's 66.4 pounds lighter than my peak weight of 303 - nearly a 22% weight loss. And it's actually within realistic striking distance of seeing a number beginning with "1."
What do I need to work on, though? Consistency. I am nowhere close to consistent. I actually lost those 27.6 pounds between September and now. (Which, by the way, was a real win: often I gain weight starting with my birthday right before Halloween and through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. This year I weighed, measured, and tracked all through the holidays.) But during the first eight months of 2019, I initially gained 10 pounds in January and February, then yo-yo'ed within a 20-pound range until August. That was the month when I finally got myself back down to the New Year's Day weight, then starting in September I managed to keep going in the right direction. I actually had to lose 38 pounds to get my highest 2019 weight down to today's scale number.
On one hand, I'm encouraged that I did manage to lose nearly 40 pounds in the last five months of the year. That certainly seems to suggest that I'm capable of losing more than that over 12 months. On the other hand, I'm annoyed that I had so little discipline from January through July. I do not want to repeat that this year - but I also can't help worrying that my mental switch might yet again flip to the "off" position and I'll suddenly find myself at the grocery store on Friday evenings, deciding what kinds of cookies and ice cream I'm entitled to as a reward for making it through another week. It takes me so much less time to gain weight than to lose it!
2 days ago