120 Pounds Down! (with pics)

I know I keep harping on this point, but there sure as hell is something to be said for consistency.  I keep working out every day and striving to eat well every day, and the weight keeps coming off.  Huh.  It would be nice if there were a magic pill that would transform me overnight into a sylph-like goddess, but failing that, my brute force method and donkey like stubbornness appears to be working just fine.  Not quite "overnight" results, but nothing too shabby, either.

Last week I lost weight, right on track, but this week I lost still more and finally passed the 120 pounds lost mark with my loss of 1.4 pounds.  I am now down 120.1 pounds, or 71% of my target, representing 36% of my starting weight.  71% of the way there - - that makes achieving my goal sound almost close  (while simultaneously still being at least 3/4 of a year away, like a cruel optical illusion).

You know me and charts and graphs - - let's bring on the numbers...!

 

 

 I lost 7.5 pounds overall in April, which still keeps me in losing 1.8 pounds each week on average since I first began working out 66 weeks ago.  Speaking of workouts, I haven't missed a workout in 49 weeks - - almost a full year of working out at least 5 days a week (and since last August, 6 days a week).  That is the real key to my success - - regular workouts.  I love food too damn much to be able to lose weight by eating sensibly alone.  So far I am still on track to hit my 165 pound weight goal around the end of January, but I would love to hit that milestone sooner, if I could. 

Another month down, another set of measurements:

This past month I lost another 5" on various bits and bobs of me, for a total of more than 50" lost altogether.  That's more than 4 feet of person, gone.

I am officially a size 18 based on my measurements (my hips and waist still have a couple of inches to go to properly fit into a size 16), and my size 18 suits that I took out of the clothing archive are looking great.

The Nerd and I are cleaning out some closets and rearranging some things, and I finally went through some old duffel bags I had stored away.  I thought one of them, at least, was full of lingerie, but apparently my memory is not so good - - they were full of jeans from sizes 12 to 24W, as well as shorts, chino skirts, and a couple of sweaters my mom knit for me back when I was 18 and 19 (the sweaters totally fit, by the way!!!).

Just for shits and giggles I tried on the size 16 jeans I found in the bags.  I could totally put them both on!  It is not the most elegant look, and I am definitely embracing the muffin top in those jeans, but I have at least 2 pairs of jeans that I will be able to fit into soon - - likely within this month.  I haven't been a 16 in forever, so you can imagine my excitement.  I kept running into the Nerd's office to show off how I looked in size 18 chino shorts, size 16 jeans, and my mom's sweaters.  He made all the right appreciative noises, because his mother didn't raise no dummy.

Seeing as I was in the spirit of reviewing my clothing on hand, I took the opportunity to clean out some of the old 3X and 2X clothes that were taking up room in my closet.  They were more a security blanket than anything else, and I have to admit that I definitely look frumpy in those baggy clothes - - there is such a difference between the size 20 suits that are now dangerously loose, and the size 16 suit I found in the archive (which totally fits and is going into the rotation next week!).  I still found it hard to donate those clothes, because they were my camouflage for so long.

I was thrilled to have found this portable jean archive, because it was not only full of those size 16 jeans, but it was also full of 3 pairs of size 14 jeans and even some size 12 chino skirts.  I had been dreading the thought of having to go out and try on some jeans when my 18s got too laughably loose, and now I don't have to!  Even better, the Nerd and I are travelling down to South Carolina for his family reunion this July, and now I will have shorts that fit, as I found 3 pairs of 18s in the archive (and shorts can be worn even a size big, if necessary).  All in all a good day for clothes.

The Nerd brought 2 large bags of clothes to the donation bin this afternoon, and with the new things I have just pulled out of the closet, he has two more than can go.  Hopefully someone will get some use out of the clothes - - some of them are in amazing condition, barely worn.

The changes from last July are amazing:

 

This is what weights and cardio will do for a person.  That, and cutting out the long island iced teas.  I love how I stand more vertically now that I don't have the same amount of ballast dragging me down in front - - it's like I suddenly discovered posture after a year and a quarter of working out.   I am loving the changes, and the Matriarch was positively thrilled with these pictures.

I am still a work in progress, but every week and every month brings me that much closer to my goal.  Here are the current numbers:

It's a little amazing to think that I will have lost more than half my starting body weight when I hit my final goal - - I am horrified to think that when I started working out, I weighed more than twice as much as I should.  Not a figure of speech - - literally twice as much.  Gack!

Right now my eye is on the 11 or so pounds I need to lose to become overweight.  I am so close, I really want to get there within the next two months.  Fingers crossed!

With this objective in mind, I stepped up my workout again.  I have added weights to a backpack for my elliptical sessions to bring me back up to 230 pounds to increase my calories burned, and I increased the resistance up to 6 (out of 20).  I kept the stride rate the same as before, because my workout this morning was quite challenging enough, thank you very much!  We'll see how it feels to get into this new workout - - I have a huge sense of accomplishment for having done it, but I recall that during the workout I was having lots of second thoughts.