The Day I Made My Personal Goal

To put it mildly, October sucked.

Sure, there were several wonderful highlights (A, B, C & D).

But for the most part, when it went wrong it went very, very wrong:

I got injured.

Had to drop out of my much-ballyhooed 10K.

Gained 1-lb for consecutive weeks for no discernible reason, which landed me back at the weight I was at the beginning of the month, all while I was trying to shed my last 5 lbs to reach my personal goal.

And then there was last weekend, when my part of Massachusetts was hit by a freak Nor'easter that dumped a foot of snow on us - on Oct. 29.

The storm knocked out our power, stranding me and my son at a friend's house Saturday night.

On Sunday, we still didn't have power at my house, so the whole family decamped to my brother's house an hour away, which caused me to (understandably) miss a scheduled race to which I was looking greatly forward. Here's a hint: If there's some freak storm forecast and I have a race on the same weekend, the storm will happen. Book it.

Power returned Monday morning, so we were able to return, settle in and clean up just in time to bring the kids trick-or-treating.

All of this mishegas meant I lost three days of my week to chaos, which is disconcerting when you're a Weight Watcher. We love routine. However, life is not without chaos, so if you're going to be successful, you need to learn to roll with the punches. Doesn't mean we have to like it, though.

I was able to stay on program while I was staying with various people over the weekend. It was not easy and eating whatever I wanted would definitely have taken the edge off. Yet I knew that we would eventually get our power back, but I would not be able to undo any eating damage that easily, especially just before my official Nov. 1 Weight Watchers weigh-in.

Operation 5.1 was still in effect and even though its success looked remote, I was going to try my best to shed as close to 5.1 as I could.

So I white-knuckled myself through our "homeless" days and knew I did absolutely everything I could given the circumstances. Missing the race Sunday meant I missed a workout, so instead of working out 5 days this week, I got in 4, but that's still great.

Given I don't eat or drink before my official 10 am weigh-in, I slept in as late as possible so I would have as short a period as possible between wake-up and weigh-in. I am a flat-out crank without caffeine or breakfast, so I try to keep that short for my sake and my family's.

I rolled pretty well this morning, got on my weigh-in gear and headed to the basement to get a number, so I would know the differential between my home scale and the official scale at the center.

Let me tell you, my summer weigh-in outfit of capris and a T-shirt was not cutting it this morning. I had planned to buy a pair of light-weight wind pants and a light long-sleeved T over the weekend, but the storm nixed that, so summer outfit it was. So. Cold. But it was for a purpose.

I was extremely nervous, I honestly had no idea what I would see. To hit my personal goal I had to lose 5.1 lbs for the month of October. The gains brought me back to where I was at the last official weigh-in, so in order to make my goal I would have to lose that much in one week. That is a lot to ask - 3% of my body weight in one week.

I was not optimistic.

Took a deep breath, stepped on the scale and saw the 1 then a 5. Whoa. It took my brain a bit to register the whole figure: 158.2. You gotta be kidding me. That's -6.6 lbs. In a week.

I usually pull one big loss a month, but I have never had a loss that big. I knew the Weight Watchers scale would not be off by much, so I knew Operation 5.1 would be a success. That took the edge off my caffeine- and breakfast-less morning. Looks like my tactics last week worked, even with that monkey wrench of a weekend tossed in.

Floated over to the Weight Watchers Center at the appropriate time and got on the scale (which is what you see in the picture at the top). -6.6 lbs, 158.4 - 124 lbs lost total.

Unreal. I have no idea when I last weighed one-fifty-anything, had to be junior high.

I made it. My personal goal, here and now. When I started, all I wanted was to eventually weigh 160 lbs and wear a Size 10 comfortably. And, today, all of that is a reality.

It's surreal, to tell you the truth. I've been working on this for 14 months and even as Goal got closer and closer, it was still "out there." But now it's right here.

I am at a healthy weight. I have a Normal BMI (starting: 44.2; current: 24.8). I don't have to lose weight.

Never as an adult have I been able to state that.

My life has changed in so many ways it's hard to sort it all out, other than to say, "It's all good. Very, very good."

So, what now? A lifetime of maintenance.

That sounds daunting, but hell, what's the alternative? Not awesome, I tell you that.

Flo always says:

"It's HARD to be overweight. It's HARD to lose weight. It's HARD to maintain weight loss. You just have to pick your hard!"

True dat. I am picking the latter. Forever.

Stick around, because this is where the hard work really begins...