always come back for more.

I didn't even realize earlier when I posted that I reached another milestone today. 80 pounds lost so far!

Today's banner pic is in honor of Interstate 80 which cuts across the length of the great state of Iowa. Living in Iowa City, I-80 is a pretty big deal because we don't have our own freeway (just the Interstate) and it's pretty much the only road that'll take you anywhere out of town. 120 miles on 80 headed west will take you to my family in Des Moines, and 80 east for 12 hours will land you in Pittsburgh. Two of my favorite places. So yeah, mad love for 80.

To be honest, I thought I would look different after 80 pounds lost, but continuing in the theme of being honest, that was based on nothing. No facts, no previous experiences with weighing 212 pounds. It was plain wishful thinking. I had always hoped I would see myself at a weight this low but I really have been struggling with visualization lately. It all seems so... surreal.

I had taken great care at the beginning of my weight loss journey to not focus on the end result, mostly because the thought of having to lose 100+ pounds made me want to quit before I even started. I had never intentionally lost more than 5 pounds, so losing 20 or 50 or 100 was just out of the picture. Little by little, day by day, I've been slowly chipping away at the excess weight on my body, trusting in the process and having faith in myself. It hasn't been fast or easy, but I can tell you with every ounce of enthusiasm in my body that it was worth it.

The excitement that I feel today is not from realizing that I've lost 80 pounds, it's from realizing that I only have 42 more to go. After much thought and consideration, I have come to the conclusion that my final weight should be around 170 pounds. This is the first time in my adult life that 170 pounds is reasonable AND attainable. I don't know when it'll happen for me, but I can tell you how: eating less, moving more, and making better choices.

Moving forward from here is exhilarating. After all this time I finally have a goal and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I get to count down to the end rather than counting up all the pounds. Of course health is still my main priority but I know that if I focus on achieving a healthy weight, biology will work out the rest of the details for me.

My short-short-short term goal is to lose 3 pounds. It would be the first time in too long that I will see my weight start 20X... even at 209 that's a sight worth fighting for.

The next goal after that is an obvious one: wonderland. 13 to go.

And after that... the final thirty. My next appointment with my lovely neurologist is towards the end of May, so for now I want to focus all my attention on getting as close to 199 as possible. I have exactly 7 weeks to go and I'm ready to do this.