30-In-30 Challenge: Week 10, 177.5lbs - GOOOAAL!!!

YES!!!! I DID IT!!! I feel so good, I could almost go out and pull a Chastain, but I still don't have the body for that, the hubby probably wouldn't approve, and well, ....it'd just be weird without being in the middle of a soccer pitch having just scored a winning goal in front of thousands of cheering fans. But I feel almost as good as she did in that moment. Not only did I lose 30 lbs within the goal of 30 weeks - I lost it in TEN weeks. I don't think I've EVER lost weight that fast. I keep waiting for a month-long plateau to hit me, but it just never came. No complaints here, although I'm pretty sure I need to start eating a little more.

So now I'm less than 30 lbs away from my goal weight of 150. I'm well aware that these next 30 lbs are going to be a lot harder to lose, and so I know it'll take a lot longer than 10 weeks. But I've proven to myself now that it's very do-able by the end of 2007.

Because my ultimate goal weight seems so close, I've been thinking a lot about how to prevent my typical self-sabotage whenever I get to this stage. A lot of it has to do with my all-or-nothing attitude when it comes to eating right. I'm one of those people who has to eat perfectly, and once I get off track, it's nearly impossible to right myself before I've gained nearly every pound back. I use one single eating mishap to justify days, weeks, even months of binging. I mean, if I eat one cookie, I tell myself that I've blown my diet, so I might as well keep eating the whole package!! Then I'll go to the grocery store up the street and buy a whole bunch of junk food to scarf down for the rest of the night because, well, "I'll just get back on track tomorrow". But then the next morning comes, and I see that all the junk food from the previous night isn't gone yet. Well, I can't very well throw it away, that's wasteful! So I eat it, telling myself I'll just get back on track the next day. Then I go buy more junk food for the rest of the night, and the cycle just keeps repeating itself, day after week after month.

So after some thought, feedback from others, and a little online research, I'm thinking about joining Weight Watchers when I have about 10 lbs left to lose. So far it seems like their points plan is just what I need to combat this destructive inner dialogue. I need a different perspective on food. A new set of rules. Some view that says that it's perfectly okay to have the cake, so long as I make up for it in other ways, like cutting back earlier in the day/week. So that's what I've been kicking around in my head lately. That's a ways in the future, though. Right now I'm am perfectly content to enjoy the feeling of nearly 2 1/2 months of success.

Speaking of that, just because I met my goal already of 30 lbs, that doesn't mean I'm done with the 30-In-30 Challenge. I'm just going to set a new goal for it: I think another 10 lbs is more than reasonable in what's left of the Challenge time. I have 20 weeks left, so that's about a half a pound a week. Very reasonable.