Less of Josephine.

It’s Monday again (it’s funny how fast they come around), time to exhale as hard as possible and step on the scale. Today I am 153, which is a -3 pound loss for the week and puts me down -54.8 for the 17 week period (which is -26.37% of my original body weight).

I leave for Big Sur/Monterey this Friday and back in this post on June 7, I mention how I’d really like to weigh at least 159 before I fly. So I surpassed that goal by several pounds, yippee! I’m very excited about this trip and perhaps a wee bit apprehensive about staying on plan, but I think I can do it. For once I’m looking forward to a vacation for reasons that have NOTHING to do with food, which may really be a first in my life!

Photo is of me going biking in my new bike shirt courtesy my fabulous husband — ignore the bad helmet head hair please!

It’s Monday, me mateys, time to weigh in!

This morning, I weighed in at 156, which is a -3 pound loss for the week, and I’m now down -51.8 pounds for the 16 week period. I’m glad I hadn’t plateaued at 159, I was worried there for a few days, but apparently things are still moving. This week brought lots of fitness breakthroughs as I suddenly increased speed and endurance in all three of my primary sports (running, biking, swimming) and today I start a new strength training program so I can get some pretty, pretty muskles.

I’ll eat me spinach all day long and twice on Sunday if that’ll help!

Oh look, it’s Monday again, time to wrassle the scale into submission and gauge my progress so far. As of this morning, I (still) weigh 159, which is a -2.6 pound loss for the week and puts me -48.8 pounds down in 15 weeks. Perhaps I celebrated one-fiddy-nine a little too much, because my body has held steady at that weight since Thursday. Not that I’m not thrilled to be in the 150s, I’m just ready to see the next lower number, please. Of course, I know I’ve been terribly spoiled by such steady losses and I have no right to complain at all. And I’m not complaining — I’m just urging and cajoling more fat to leave my body. I’m like the “Fat Whisperer”, I’m going to remain calm and assertive and demonstrate that I am the leader of this pack of fat. I make the rules and I’m in charge. And I’m only going to reward behavior I approve of: like seeing 158-anything on the scale.

I’m still in the groove on this lovely Monday morning (also known as my “official” weigh-in day) and the scale shows it. Today I am 161.6 which is a -3.2 pound loss for the week and puts me down -46.2 pounds for 14 weeks. I’m happy, I’m thrilled, I’m overjoyed, I’m — sing it with me — feelin’ groovy!

Slow down, you move too fast,
you’ve got to make the morning last
Just kickin’ down the cobble-stones, lookin’ for fun
and feelin’ groovy!

As always, Monday is my “official” weekly weigh-in extravaganza. So you can imagine the stress around my house on Sunday nights. I mean it is seriously TENSE here, what with the ritual sacrificing of rutabagas to the Scale Gods and the attempts to trim off extra bits of fat from my butt with a butter knife. It’s not a pretty scene I can tell you.

This morning I weigh 164.8 which is a -4 pound loss for the week and puts me at -43 pounds down for the 13 weeks worth of fat scraping and vegetable sacrifices.

Twelve weeks. Seems like a lifetime. Yet is seems like it flew by in a blink. Every Monday I “officially” weigh-in for tracking purposes (I actually do look at the scale every single morning) and today I am 168.8, which is a 4 pound loss for the week and puts me down 39 pounds over the 12 week period. Whoo hoo! Lose just ONE MORE pound and I’ll have lost FORTY pounds, which seems like such a significant number! And I have “only” 28.8 pounds to lose before I reach my goal! That’s so exciting!

Suddenly my goal doesn’t seem like a distant dream languishing far out on the horizon, indistinct and unreachable. It seems in-focus and gloriously attainable. In fact, it’s just around the corner, so close I can smell its yummy, smooth vanilla-and-cocoa-butter scent. That’s the sweet smell of success I’m being gently teased with. The sweet smell of hard work and dedication and 5:30 a.m. runs when my legs are tired and roasted vegetables when something deep-fried and fattening is calling. I love that smell. I love the fact that soon I will round that corner and be able to actually see the finish line. And while the finish line is just the beginning of the real journey, I’ll love crossing it anyway.

Yo-leven, come on yo-leven! Yo! Yo! Yo! Oops, sorry, my love of craps is showing. But I am happy with my Lucky 11 week weigh-in. This morning I weighed in at 172.8, which is a 3.2 pound loss for the week and puts me at an overall loss of 35 pounds in 11 weeks. Yay! If you’d have told me 11 weeks ago that I could be 35 pounds down I would have snorted all over your shirtfront. And you’d have never done that again. I’ve just crossed the half-way to goal mark, and I have less to lose than I’ve already lost! Yippee!

I’m really feeling in-the-groove these days, happy with my food (not feeling deprived), happy with my choices (love eating vegan), happy with my overall fitness (getting faster and stronger). Happy, happy, happy! It’s almost annoying isn’t it?

Another week is gone, and I can’t believe it has already been 10 weeks since I started making significant changes to my lifestyle! This morning I weighed in at 176, which is a 2.8 pound loss for the week and puts me at an overall loss of 31.8. Yippee! I feel much healthier having taken off over 30 pounds and my stamina and intensity for all three sports (running, swimming, biking) is steadily increasing. Yesterday I put on size 10 shorts that I couldn’t even get around my hips 10 weeks ago. I still have a hard time actually SEEING the changes, though other people are saying that suddenly the changes appear very dramatic. So that’s nice!

As always, Monday morning is where the buck screeches to a halt and I officially weigh-in. Scale gods be praised, I’ve had another good week as I’m now 178.8 which is a 3.2 pound loss for the week and puts me at 29 pounds down for 9 weeks of work.

I’m almost half way to my goal weight and that will be exciting, but I can only hope that when I do finally reach goal (38.8 pounds down from where I am today) I’ll be light enough to simply recline on air while nibbling imaginary, calorie-free grapes as our model is demonstrating for us here:

Oh to live such a luxurious skinny life of leisure. All hail the scale gods, all hail!

Weighed in this morning and I am at 182 even, which is a 4.8 pound loss for the week, and brings my total loss to 25.8 pounds for 8 weeks worth of effort. Yippee!

This weekend I was sorting through some of my small clothes for inspiration and I really do find it hard to believe I will ever fit into some of them. Particularly a pair of SUPER cute, size 6 (long) jeans by Tommy Hilfiger. They look impossibly tiny, yet I remember the moment I tried them on — standing right by the store display I yanked these itty bitty jeans on OVER a pair of shorts because I didn’t feel like going to the dressing room. I can’t believe I was ever that small! At 5′10″ tall, those jeans made my legs look like they went on for miles and miles. But honestly, it doesn’t seem possible to wear them, right now I can only get them mid-thigh! But I guess if I stick with what I’m doing I can get there eventually. It seems amazing to me that my body can grow and shrink so dramatically, like some demented magic trick. If only I could say “abracadabra” and slip those jeans on. Wouldn’t that be a dream.