Progress Comes in Many Forms

Yesterday I took a few hours and did a full purge of ALL the clothes not serving me well in my life and made the decision to get rid of everything that was too big, even just a little, and everything that I did not feel good in, even if it "fit". What an amazing exercise! In the past when I'd lost weight I always hung on to the bigger clothes, and I think that gave me permission to gain the weight back. This way I will need to be really careful of the decisions I make if only because I will have no "fall back" clothes to wear. Fortunately, I DID hang on to a lot of clothes that I outgrew over the years and so I have rediscovered more stuff I can wear now and look forward to wearing things in another 20+ pounds lost. That is fun!

I have realized that I am about to enter the 18 to 20/XL size range, which is very exciting and motivating. Taking the time to go through piles of clothes helped me remember all the reasons I am doing what I'm doing and why I want to keep doing it until I reach my goal.

Even though I have been stuck in the mid-270s for the past month or so (272 was the 100 pound mark), I'm doing lots of amazing activities, and I am getting a taste of what maintenance will be like. Seems pretty awesome and doable, but now I am ready to take things to the next level. I think that the next 50 pounds or so will be especially transformative.

Here's a photo I took yesterday in all my tryings-on. I'm wearing a t-shirt I used to wear in college 25 years ago, and jeans that I was only ever able to wear for a short period about 10 years ago (and not even that comfortably back then!). Yes, I held onto clothes that I really liked as I gained weight and grew out of them. So glad I did!

My beloved, nearly threadbare Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds t-shirt.
It's still snug, but I can get it on without trouble. 

And, on Friday, I ran another 5K race – it was the "graduation" race for the running program I've been doing. At the beginning of the race, I was running alongside one of the participants in the Learn to 5K section (I was in 2.0). She and I were at the back of the pack at that point, and we seemed to be enjoying each other's company. I had intended to go along my way and up the pace, aiming to get a "good" time, but about a half mile in, I decided that I wanted to stick with Tiffany and be her cheerleader for the race. Since I'm going to be a mentor in the next session of the program, I also thought it would be good practice for me in that regard.

We came in second last and last, and it was an amazing experience. For me, it was nice to take things a little bit slower than I usually aim for, and I felt comfortable the entire length of the race. I know Tiffany was working hard and she was dealing with a bad ankle (an old injury) and so we stopped to walk a couple times, and yet she pushed through and finished strong. I was SO proud of her, and so honored to be part of her first 5K experience. Crossing the finish line involved tears of joy and BIG hugs, what is better?

So, here is a photo of me just about to cross the finish line.

Almost finished!

And Tiffany and I post-race, basking in the glow of our achievements!

Rockin' the 5K!

Finally, I'm so happy that we started playing tennis again after a couple weeks' hiatus due to various issues. We did 30 minutes on Saturday, two hours yesterday (two one-hour sessions), and one hour today. Feeling really good about my skill level and my endurance! Hooray!