So Close and Yet.....

I've spent a lot of time this summer at the gym. One of the perks of being a teacher and having summers off is an influx of leisure time. Yes, a lot of that leisure time is filled with reading and seminars and lesson plans, but there are also these little pockets of time where the rush is gone and you can just go spend an hour or two working out without freaking out about time. It's been really lovely. As the first few weeks of summer passed, I noticed that this "bonus" time at the gym was resulting in a pretty steady loss at the scales every week. By the beginning of July, I was down a little over 10 pounds. At that point, I did some figuring and set a goal for myself -- I wanted to lose 25 pounds by the start of school. I knew it was ambitious and yet reachable with some work. And work I have -- lots of time at the gym, being really careful about what I was eating, et cetera.

School starts Monday. I stepped on the scale today, did a little math, and realized that I have lost, since the beginning of June ...... 24 pounds.

One freaking pound short!

It probably doesn't help that I got sloppy last week. I was still spending time at the gym, but I succumbed to a terrific sale at the local grocery store on fresh mozzarella....bought quite a bit of it .... during a week when my sis was out of town the entire week ... and ate every last bit that I bought. (A not-so-little-known secret about me -- I absolutely love cheese. All cheese. Seriously, I've never met a cheese I didn't love. And that even includes Kraft singles, man. When I was a kid, my parents called me "Mouse" because I loved cheese so much. Seriously.) That cheese binge resulted in a small gain last week (shocker!). I was back on track this week and pushed just a bit harder at the gym, which was enough to get back off the weight I gained during The Great Cheese Binge of 2011, but it still left me just one pound shy of the goal.

I could cry about this. I could complain. I could throw a fit and give up. But you know what? In just about two months, I have lost 24 freaking pounds. That's like the size of a healthy baby -- and not a newborn! My clothes fit better. I feel better. I know I'm on a beautiful path to getting my health under my control and living a healthy life. So I came up short of my summer goal, but I also came up 24 pounds closer to meeting my ultimate goal, and that's what's really important. I know the next few weeks will be tough as I get re-adjusted to my work schedule and figure out where working out will fit in between teaching and directing and coaching and still finding time to just unwind and relax after long days of all that and more. (And also finding time to cook healthy, delicious meals!) I may bump up a pound or two in that transition, but keeping this all in perspective (my word of the year, I think!) will make this journey a lot less fraught with stress and a lot more filled with those tiny victories that make it all worth it.