I Reached My Goal, Finally!

I reached my weight loss goal of 125 pounds! I am officially 124.6 pounds, and would you believe that at 4 feet, 11 inches, I am still considered overweight? That seems crazy to me, but according to the BMI, I need to keep losing until I reach 120-122 pounds to be seen as a “normal” weight. The truth is that there are very few things normal about me, and I take great pride in that fact.

It took me over eight months to lose 18 pounds, mostly because I tend to eat sweets when I get emotional or have one of my dark days. Unfortunately, when you are on a diet and it seems like nothing is happening, you have a lot of dark days that require sugar-filled goodies to put a smile on your face. So, I had to learn to define success in other ways, not just by the scale.

One thing I learned was not to define my accomplishments according to the lovely thin women on the website of the weight-loss company I am using. I saw women losing 30-50 pounds in a few months, and I wondered what was wrong with me that I wasn’t matching their success. But then, I realized that as long as I followed the program to the best of my ability, all that was important was how much weight I was losing.

I decided to join a weight-loss program because of the coronavirus and being over age 65. I wanted to ensure that if I contracted the virus, I was as healthy as I could be, in hopes that the severity of the case would be reduced enough to allow me to survive it. I have half a left lung and a defibrillator, so I needed all the help I could get! I started to exercise about 100 minutes a day for at least five days a week, combined with not buying my favorite foods in the world: Orea cookies and ice cream. I found that I needed structure, to keep a record of what I eat, and to know just what portion sizes to use.

As a poor child, I seldom had anything sweet, as there wasn’t money for extras. When I received a nickel or dime, or, heavens forbid, a quarter (yes, I am teling my age!), I would race to the store for cookies, candy, and ice cream. I didn’t waste those precious coins on “healthy” foods like fruits. My sister would buy cheese, and you got a lot of cheddar for a quarter back then! I thought that was just silly, when you could make you mouth happy with sweet things. Because I didn’t know when I would get more ooey-gooey stuff, I filled up on what I had, as moderation has never been one of my strong suits. Instead, the more I can eat, the better I feel has been my motto!

Throughout the years, sweet has been my go-to friend, and I have the diabetes that accompanies this relationship. Thankfully, I don’t have to take any medication for diabetes, even asking my doctor if I still have to view myself as a diabetic. Yet, it is because I understand how easily I can find myself eating unhealthily and suffering the consequences of my actions that I describe myself as a diabetic, similar to reminding myself that I can’t drink alcohol because I have a tendency not to know when I am sated.

So, I am setting a new goal to get on the other side of the BMI scale to “normal weight.” I only need to lose another two to four pounds. At the rate I lose weight, I should have that done by June! All kidding aside, I am proud of myself!