Happy news, my friends! Over seven long years ago, I set a goal to lose 200 pounds. At the time, I weighed 371 pounds. And, as I’ve mentioned before, I never really truly believed I’d meet that goal.

I met that goal yesterday morning.

In fact, I surpassed it just a tad; I even took a pic of the weight on my scale and shared it with some close friends and family. (Note to self: CLEAN THAT SCALE! OMG!) Yesterday — just a simple Thursday in November — was the day I thought would never, ever happen for me. And today? Even lower, at 202 pounds lost.

Yes, I absolutely cried some tears of joy. Those of you that have followed me over the years, and that know me personally, know how long I have struggled to arrive at this moment in time.

Every tear, every disappointment, every setback, every time I doubted myself during the past seven years has been worth it. Every accomplishment, every recovery, every shift in my methods, every learning experience, every cathartic moment when I learned something about myself that I hadn’t realized — has been worth the work.

This past Monday, I walked 6 miles when I went out to walk for the day, and it wasn’t the first time. On Wednesday, I surpassed it; instead of eating my emotions during a stressful time, I walked it out, and reached 7.27 miles. Not even the .27 miles was possible for me on the day I made the very tentative decision to try again. I was in pain — physically, mentally, emotionally. I hoped that by trying again, I might stand a chance of giving myself my life back, and in the process, start to make it up to my friends and family for the horrible condition I was in.

Thank God. One small step has led to so very many others, and that initial thought of just maybe I could try to pull this off wasn’t a pipe dream.

More recently, I decided to amend my goals to 210 pounds down. That’s my next goal, and at that point, knowing I’ll be seeing my doctor at a weight at which the idiotic BMI scale says I am no longer obese, I want to assess my health markers. I’ll adjust from there as I move forward.

I started off with a number so big that I was far too scared to create a weight loss ticker for the entire amount. I figured looking at it would scare me so much that I’d fail. Again. So I worked in increments of 50 pounds. Now, I don’t even have a ticker, anymore. I don’t need it. And any remaining weight I may lose, based on my health markers, is a fraction of even the smaller increments I once chose for my mental wellbeing.

Setting my ego aside, for a moment, though… while I originally created this blog as a way to remain transparent, there’s a message of hope for anyone who is now in the situation I once found myself in. You can take control of your life. You can change things. You can work toward and commit to whatever it takes to change your health. You can come back from the brink. And I hope that my own accomplishments might encourage someone else to just make the decision to start.

Prove it to yourself you can do it. My proof? I’m still here and moving forward.