Fitness Update -- 30 pounds!

I've lost 30 pounds this year! I just crossed the thirty pound line this morning and I'm very excited at the progress I've made. I'm still amazed that I've been able to get this far, and awed at how much more I still have to go--but I feel more and more like I can actually get there. In fact, I keep adjusting the finish line further than I thought I would go when I started. My main goal now is 100 pounds, which seemed impossible when I started. Now, I feel I could go even further if I keep at it.

I recently looked up classifications of obesity, and learned that at the beginning of the year I was classified as "morbidly obese"--meaning I was probably just moments away from giving up, throwing away my old clothes, and moving on to muumuus like in the Homer picture. Now I actually have room in my clothes. Maria says my shirts look "blousey" now that my belly is no longer threatening to burst out of them at any moment. I'm pulling my belt tighter and tighter every day. I have photographs where I can actually see physical differences now. I'm not quite ready to share them yet, but I will in a future post. Maybe when I hit 50 pounds.

I finished the Couch-to-5k program a couple weeks ago. I got myself up to running 30 minutes at a time. Something I never thought I'd do, weight-loss or no. Now I'm still trying to go out running several days a week. It's harder to push myself without having a specific program to run to any more, but I can still get myself out on the road in the mornings. We bought an elliptical trainer earlier this year that I could only do 5 minutes at a time on at first. Now I regularly do 30 minutes on that as well.

I just got a fancy pedometer from a program at work that keeps track of my steps every day. It uploads to a site that offers incentive rewards for hitting a minimum number of steps every day (7,000) plus recording exercise and other fitness activities. So I've got an extra incentive to keep myself going every day and get a few more steps in. Plus there's the friendly competition with other co-workers.

So anyway, 30 pounds lost. At least 70 more to go. Feeling better. Looking better. Eating healthier. Moving more. I think that about sums it up for now.