This morning was my Week 3 weigh-in, and I met my first weight goal.  I had hoped to meet the goal by the end of this month, so meeting it with a week to spare was quite nice.  I’m now down a total of 14 pounds for this weight loss effort.  It’s not enough weight for anyone to truly notice; I think it’ll take another 50 or so for that to happen, but it is enough for me to notice a change in how my clothes are fitting.

Just a quick observation about goals: I believe in short goals.  Realistically, I have 150 pounds to lose, and although I did previously lose 140, I know from that experience that looking at the full number can be quite overwhelming.  When it’s easy to get discouraged, it’s just better to break the overall goal down into bits that seem doable.   Later on, when I have several goals under my belt, and when the rewards of weight loss are more apparent, such as being able to move easier and wear smaller clothes, the path ahead won’t seem like quite as much of an imposing journey.

I really do recommend this method to anyone, regardless of how much weight they have to lose.  If the total amount seems like a lot to you, no matter what anyone else thinks, then breaking it down into smaller chunks can help get your mind in the right place for continuing on.  Walking a marathon to someone who hasn’t been off the couch in the last decade seems insurmountable.  Walking around the yard a few times probably seems like a much easier thing to do, but if you walk around the yard enough, the distance will equal a marathon.  It’s all in how you think about it.

I haven’t decided on my next goal, yet.  This goal was special; when you weigh over 300, it’s difficult to find a standard home scale that will weigh that much.  My digital scales at home wouldn’t report anything other than an error, so I have been weighing at the gym.  This morning, just to see if perhaps I’d gotten under that magic 300 number, I stepped on the scales at home and saw 298.  There will probably be a little variance between switching scales, especially since I weigh unclothed at home (just try doing that in a gym, when the scales are out in the main workout room!), but I am not worrying about it.

Things that went great this week: I did well with my eating.  I did a good job of keeping track of what went into my body.  I also moved more, thanks to getting a new puppy last week; she has to be walked a lot, so I have to get up and go outside for her to take care of her business.  This is good.

Things to improve upon for next week: water intake.  I can do a better job of making sure I’m getting enough.  I also need to start structuring my exercise.