Countdown to the Wedding - Day 83

I am not a keeper.  I go through things in my house often and get rid of things that I'm not using anymore.  Other than seasonal items and a few sentimental things, I weed things out pretty often.  I do, however, tend to keep clothes that I hope I can get back into "some day."  It's a good thing I did that because I've been able to pull pants out of the top of my closet that I had been saving.  Some of them don't fit with the style that I want for myself now.  Some of them look great on me again.  I just spent an hour going through my entire closet.  I filled seven big bags with clothes that are too big or don't make me feel good when I put them on.  It was a good purge.  In getting ready for the cruise that we're going on, I now have a good picture of what I have and what I need to buy.  We're going to Alaska, where the high temps these days will be in the upper 60s and low 70s.  I've lost most of my weight since our weather turned to the 90s.  Time to go shopping!! 

Countdown to the Wedding - Day 82

I haven't lost any more weight since early June.  I'm not discouraged by that.  I intended to lose the weight slowly, doing so by changing my eating habits and by figuring out what fits into that new plan and what doesn't.  I'm at the point now where I can tell just how much I need to be eating, what I need to be eating and what to change in order to lose any more pounds.  I can easily manage my new weight.  That is important to me because once I've reached my goal, I don't want to gain weight again.  It's also important because in a week, Tom and I will be on a 7-day cruise in Alaska.  I need to be able to maintain this through that vacation.  I am planning on getting back on track for the remaining ten pounds that I want to lose once we return home.  But I didn't want to have to be dieting on the cruise.  So the past three weeks have been instructional for me.  I CAN go on a cruise and not be afraid of gaining weight.  I'm very excited about that.  The temptations have gotten easier and easier to deal with.  One day I did have a little bit of birthday cake at a birthday party.  Afterward, my stomach was queasy and I decided that eating the cake was just not satisfying.  I feel confident that my "sweet tooth" has been tamed.  This is a good thing.    

Countdown to the Wedding - Day 62

One day a couple of weeks ago I was working at the library and a former employee came in with her son. She hadn't seen me in about a year. She said that I looked different. Was it my hair? No. She said I looked better, like I was wearing my clothes better. I told her I had lost weight and she said "It looks good on you."  I'll take that as a compliment.
I am enjoying my new way of eating.  Food tastes really good.  I have more energy and can go without eating between meals, except for that 3 pm slump.  But I did hit that plateau of 12 pounds lost.  It was frustrating and unexplainable.  I couldn't figure out what I had changed.  But I was determined to just keep doing what I was doing.  Keep eating protein and vegetables, with fruit just a couple times a week.  Keep saying no to bread and sweets, with a treat only rarely.  Keep drinking 2+ liters of water every day.  Keep walking Willie.  And this morning I got on the scale.  My total weight lost is now 15 pounds.