So, the other day we went to Costco to stock up on basics; flour, sugar, butter, eggs.  I go through so much of these things that it’s crazy.  Anyway… as we were carrying the groceries in it hit me.  25 lbs. That’s how much weight I’ve lost since I started doing Weight Watchers at the end of January of this year.  30 lbs total since the beginning of this year.  It doesn’t seem like that much to me because I am disgusted that I was as big as I was, and I’m still wearing the same clothes that I was before (they just actually fit me now).  But, 25 lbs is significant.  That’s the weight of a small child, (my son until the age of 3.5) and a Costco bag of flour, or sugar.  Those are kinda heavy and kinda awkward…. And that’s how much weight I’ve lost.  I think that’s pretty cool.  And it’s enough of an incentive to want to keep it off and continue losing.

I recently went to San Francisco with my awesome Mom in Law (and NO kids) and had a blast.  We walked and rode the bus EVERYWHERE and actually ate pretty healthy.  It was encouraging to come home from a vacation and not have gained any weight.  However, I haven’t yet got back into the swing of things since being home the last few weeks, I’m not counting points, and not religiously exercising.  I need a kick in the pants to get me going again. 

I have a weigh in on the 27^th.  The first of the monthly weigh ins at Pavitts.  If I can keep the weight I lost off during the Lose2Win contest for a whole year, they will give me $100.  That I can do.  I think I need these contests to really stay motivated.  I knew my chance of winning the $1000 for the Lose2Win was slim, but this one I think I pretty much have that $100 in the bag.

Additional motivation factors: I recently went to see an orthopedic surgeon.  Up until this time I was getting all my info from my chiropractor.  I didn’t really hear anything I hadn’t heard all ready, but I wanted to hear it from a surgeon I guess.  What I did get was an idea of exactly how severe my problem was.  The normal hip is supposed to have sockets.  I don’t have any on either hip, and because of that, my hip bones have slid up and are wearing in an areas that it shouldn’t.  I walk like a gimp because my left leg is a couple inches shorter than my right.  It is also bone on bone, in addition to all the nasty degenerative arthritis and bone cysts (caused by the inappropriate wear). This is extremely abnormal in someone my age, and he said 5 years ago they could have gone in and cleaned it out so I could put off hip replacement surgery.  Well, 5 years ago my hips didn’t bother me as much as say my knees… Anyway.  Because I am so young, and hip replacements only last 20 years tops, I was told to put it off as long as I possibly can, because I will need to have the hip replacements replaced after they wear out.  I was told to continue losing weight, and told to get really good health insurance (right now I don’t have any).   I was also told that because of the severity of my situation, the doctor here wouldn’t touch me.  I’ve got to travel to Seattle to get this done.  Yay.

I am in so much pain every day… I don’t know that “as long as possible” is going to be very long.  SO… I am aiming for 75 lbs.  I am going to keep chugging along until I’ve lost 75 more lbs (3 more bags of flour) and see how I’m feeling then.  If there isn’t a huge improvement in the pain levels, then I’m going to go to Seattle and get it taken care of.  If I continue to lose in the same speed I’m currently losing, I should be able to do in a little more than a year.  Cheer me on, I’m going to need all the help I can get.