Challenging Myself

I want to send out a huge thank you to the amazing, tenacious, and inspirational Tammy of From Fat To Fab for starting up a new weight loss challenge! This is exactly what I need to get me through the next little while and I am so excited to join her, and many other fabulous bloggers, as they work towards a goal of losing ten pounds!

I am actually a couple of days late posting about this, but I have had so many things percolating in this brain of mine that I really had to write about some other stuff as it came up. Even now, I still have a number of topics rattling around in my mind that I want to get to. But, I just couldn’t let another moment go by without mentioning this fabulous Summer Challenge!

I think that at this point, as I have just crossed over my posted goal of 150 pounds, it is time to reevaluate. I knew that the time was coming, but am still shocked that it has arrived so quickly! I never thought I might be reaching my goal weight so soon!

So what’s next? Well, I have written before about how I just sort of choose 150 pounds as a nice round number to aim for and that, subsequently, I was pretty certain that I would continue to lose a bit more before reaching a comfortable weight to maintain. I still don’t know exactly what that number will be, but I do love the sound of 133. That would be exactly half of my highest weight and is nicely entrenched in the middle of the ‘normal’ category for the body mass index.

If my losses had slowed down to a crawl by now, I would be much happier calling it quits at this weight. Yet I have continued to have pretty significant drops week to week and I think that is indicative of the fact that I still have quite a bit more I can trim off. I am reluctant to choose a precise number because I want the tail end of this part of the journey to be a natural process, but I also know that I work well with specific goals in mind. And, as I already said, I also like round numbers. So…

130. There it is. That’s my new goal! I am changing my tracker and everything!

Wow! I am actually really excited! I didn’t think I would be this thrilled to move onto a new goal so shortly after reaching my original one. I really believe that it is achievable and I think that’s the key. If I thought it was something I would need to do a big push to accomplish than I would be far less likely to set out for a whole extra twenty pounds. But this? This feels good and right!

Another important element is going to be ensuring that I continue to listen to my body. If, in just five pounds, I find that there is a dramatic decrease in my losses obviously I will need to reevaluate again. If I don’t make it to 130 I definitely won’t be heartbroken. If my body is meant to maintain at 145, 140, or 135 than so be it! The fact of the matter is that I have met my original goal and I am really, really proud of that! Whatever else I lose from this point forward is just gravy!

Still… it never hurts to have a plan. And that’s where the Summer Challenge comes in (I knew I’d get to the point eventually)! I have no idea if I still have it in me to lose an entire ten pounds in a month. My average losses suggest that I can do it, but my recent slight tapering in the weigh-in department would actually leave me a bit short. Nevertheless, I intend to try.

I am not going to do anything different apart from attempting to be a little more diligent with staying on track with my food and exercise. But, if I am careful to stick with my plan then it is possible that I just may finish this challenge victorious – actually, I think simply attempting it means that I am successful by default even if I don’t quite drop a whole ten pounds. At this point it is so much less about the numbers and really more about just continuing to strive for excellence, overall fitness, and good health. Regardless, I am excited to take Tammy up on her offer to join this fun contest and to see where it takes me! I just love a challenge!