Today I reached another milestone along the way to personal fitness. Now to figure out how to celebrate! No, it will not be with food.
No longer obese!
Finally this morning, after losing a full thirty-five pounds, my scale dropped below 220 pounds (at least momentarily until I grabbed that first cup of coffee). So officially I am now just overweight, not obese.
Of course I know I am at the very top edge of being overweight. I also know that I am less than half way to my goal of a fit weight. But it feels great nevertheless.
From a fitness point of view there is little difference between my weight yesterday and my weight today, but reaching this point has been a marker, a sub-goal along the way toward my ultimate weight goal. I have had my eye on it for some time.
Thanksgiving Day Weight Loss
The remarkable thing to me is that I lost weight over Thanksgiving Day. The truth is I did not plan to do that. I had decided to take a day off from dieting and just enjoy the day.
My new eating habits seemed to rule the day instead. I only had coffee for breakfast, looking forward to dinner, but that is my ordinary habit as I discuss elsewhere. At our Thanksgiving dinner I took reasonably small portions of turkey, cranberries, greenbean casserole, and more, but skipped the potatoes and dressing. I saved my pecan pie and ate that for supper, then had my usual 9:00 p.m. cereal, this time with a banana.
So while I fully enjoyed my Thanksgiving eating, I never stuffed myself and consumed a rather modest number of calories for the day. I never felt deprived although at least one family member commented on how little I was eating, and now I am celebrating.
Using Milestones for Motivation
It is important to set major goals if we want to achieve anything in life, and certainly that is true of getting fit. A weight goal is one of them.
It is equally important, perhaps more so, to have intermediate goals, so we can recognize our progress and be motivated by our achievements. This is one for me.
The next step is a smaller one for me, but still significant—when I lose five more pounds I will be at the half way mark in my overall weight loss goal. Then it will be forty down and forty to go.
Celebrate Often
When you celebrate small victories you build motivation to move ahead. I find recognizing small achievements when they are part of a bigger project is a powerful tool for success and I milk it for all I can. I recommend it.