victory

I did it. I hit my 10% mark! I got a pretty gold-ish keychain in the form of a number 10.

It was fantastic, and really anti-climatic.

I am really happy though.

But I've already moved on and have the new goal set in front of me. My next "5%" before the end of summer. Basically I want to lose another 13-15 lbs by Labor Day, which also happens to be my birthday. I'm going smaller in terms of the number attached to the goal b/c it'll feel more concrete, and less like a never-ending agonizing saga.

This is the VERY 1st time I've ever hit my 10% goal and I honestly think it's because even though I struggled the last couple of months, I finally didn't want to just give up. I had some sort of acceptance about the fact that even though it was hard and I was facing a few setbacks, I would still DO it. There was no option of "oh maybe I'll just gain all the weight back now." And I think once I eliminated some of the constraints I put on myself, is when I finally walked through it.

November to June. Approximately 30 lbs gone. It's gonna take awhile. And while I really am never going to be thrilled about that... I'm learning to accept the slowness of it.

I'm also figuring out that the final number on the scale is going to be less exciting than all the little non-scale victories along the way. And celebrating them is what's going to make this slow process tolerable... so I need to embrace them, more and more.

As long as I don't give up, it doesn't really matter how long it takes.