Day 84: The End of a Journey, the Beginning of an Epic

Well, my friends, it is over.  Who knew I could manage 84 days of exercising six days a week, getting six or more hours of sleep, not eating any sugar (mostly), and writing on this blog almost daily?  I certainly did not.  It has been hard at times.  I have learned that in the moment, I often desire food, but then later do not regret not eating it.  It is hard when you have that sticky bun staring you in the face, but looking back, I really don't feel bad at all that I "missed" those opportunities to ingest sugar, white flour, and butter.   The only thing I regret were those sweet roll things from Costco that I have always wanted to try that my friend Paul brought to a meeting I went to.  Just kidding!  I do not regret passing them up.  

Actually, to show you how far I have come (and Paul too), for Christmas Paul and his wife bought me an amazing "Edible Arrangement" of melon, grapes and strawberries.  It honestly was one of the most thoughtful gifts I received this year, and it seriously almost brought a tear to my eye.  It kind of wrapped up in one little package all of the support that all of my friends and family have given me over the last three months.  It feels good, my friends, to be loved!

Anyway, enough blubbering.  I know you all want to know about the final weigh in.  First, let me go through the checklist.  Bathroom?  Check.  Shower?  Check (dirt weighs people).  Shave?  Check (entire body, I seriously have no hair on my head, but I was losing it anyway so it doesn't really matter).  Clip nails?  Check.  Exfoliation?  Check.  Brush teeth?  Check (skinny people do not have plaque, it weighs too much).  Elective surgery?  Nope, the doctor couldn't schedule me in in time and said he had to run some "tests" before removing my spleen, gall bladder, etc.  These doctors and their tests, sheesh.   I guess I will have to wait for this weight loss until later.

Well, you get the idea, I did everything I needed to do, stripped down, exhaled deeply, and stepped onto the scale.  The interesting thing about my scale is that it is digital and the numbers skip around a lot before settling in on a final number.  Today, the scale, knowing the solemnity of the moment but being unable to help itself from adding a tiny moment of levity into the moment, jumped around for a while, at one point stopping (ever so briefly) on a number that would have had me gaining 12 pounds.  One's heart sinking must lower one's weight, because as my faith began to fail me, the scale decided to behave itself and settled in on a number beyond my expectations.  A loss of 2.6 pounds--on the week of Christmas!  I had eaten cheese, prime rib, and several other things that I probably should not have eaten, but still came through in the end!

So, in 12 weeks exactly, I have lost 26.8 pounds.  More than I have ever lost on any diet ever.  I now weigh what I weighed in 2002, and though I am a few years older, I certain feel better than I have in a long, long time.  The thing is, though, I still have a long way to go.  I still have about 20 pounds to go, which, as I have learned for the last three months, is no small feat.  But, this time, I have the advantage.  No more birthdays (well, just my daughter Maggie's on January 6, but after three in a row, one birthday is not a problem), no Thanksgivings, or Christmas Eves or Halloweens, no constant stream of chocolates and brownies and cakes (seriously, I got so desperate I even considered eating a neighbor's "famous" fruit cake at one point).  No, my friends, round one was really not fair, the lifestyle had a huge advantage over me.  But Round two?  Without all that temptation, there is no stopping me!  So stick around.  It is true that this journey has ended, but the epic is just beginning.