GOAL! What I found as I lost 89 pounds and other stuff

I made my Weight Watcher goal today.  

Holy cow! I made my goal! Cue confetti and balloons!

I have been trying to lose weight for the better part of the last eleven years. 3 years, 3 months ago I made a commitment to myself not to give up until I got there. I did pretty good the first year - I lost close to 50 pounds - the second year, I kind of floundered around and "only" lost 7... (though I earned everyone of those 7 so I hate to say say only...) and then last February I found running and since running I guess I'm down another 32 tough pounds - the running literally helped me to cross this weight loss finish line.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This thing was no sprint. It was a marathon. And though I've crossed my "finish line" in this marathon - it's no time to hang up the sneakers. In fact, it's just time to buy a new pair because I've got way more races to run.

If I want to continue on a healthy path, this is just the beginning. This is a lifelong journey towards good health and wellbeing. 

In three years I've learned that perfectionism doesn't exist, that perseverance pays off and set backs are a part of life (as are the occasional martini and french fry.) There were weeks where my weight didn't budge, "perfect" weeks on paper where the scale went up and bumps in the road. The big key is flexibility, getting back up every time you fall and instead of beating yourself up over the stumbles, learning from them, embracing them - for without them - you cannot progress. When babies first start to walk, every attempt is applauded, every time they fall down, they learn something and eventually they walk.

I lost 89 pounds and found so much - confidence, joy, belief in myself, being comfortable in my skin... Ironically, most of these found things didin't come because I look better in my jeans. Ugh. As cliche as it is (and I guess it's cliche for a reason) it truly is in the journey. It was all those bumps in the roads - facing down the setbacks, sucking up the disappointments... not dropping out of the "race" at mile 3 because I was tired and how would I ever get thru another 23...

I got a little choked up at my meeting today - but I guess that's how it goes, I always get emotional when I cross finish lines... 

So that's my story of the day. I'm feeling pretty darn good about it too. I'm not even beating myself up for last night's "long run" that was supposed to be 10 miles... I did 6 but it was on a treadmill on a Friday night after a snowstorm and I'm giving myself bonus points for all of that. Bump in the road, flexibility and all that jazz...

XO

Jen

PS: Julie - next post I will do the thing you tagged me in - thanks for that!! 

PSS: Yippe! Almost at 50 followers - thanks to all of you who've stuck with me or are now joining me on the journey.