October 13, 2009 marks my 10-month anniversary as a Weight Watcher and I have reached a very important milestone! As of this past Saturday, I have officially reached my ultimate weight loss goal. That goal (which was set several months back) was 225 pounds. With Saturday's weigh-in, I am now down to 223.2 for a total weight loss of 170 pounds!!! And I feel GREAT!

Just for fun yesterday, I decided to try on some of my old clothes (second picture from the top). Those are 50x32 pants and a XXXXL shirt. Back in December, these would have been edging in on getting too tight to wear. The bottom picture is me in my new clothes: 34x32 pants and an XL shirt. Did I mention that I feel GREAT?

Notice that I am referring to this as a milestone. I do that on purpose because I am not finished being transformed. I am now beginning the process of maintenance--a period of time in which I try to find the sweet spot for my metabolism. I will spend the next 6 weeks trying to figure out how many calories my body requires to maintain this weight. The good news is that I get to eat a little more than I have been for the past couple of months! The stressful part is trying to pinpoint exactly how much extra is the right amount for my body.

If, at the end of this six week period, I am within two pounds of 225, I will become a lifetime member of Weight Watcher--no longer having to pay the monthly fee while maintaining all of the benefits of a member so long as I stay within range of 225 on a month-to-month basis. I am also pursuing part-time employment with Weight Watchers so that I can help others just as I have been helped along my journey.

Another important milestone this past month was reached on Friday, October 2nd. I set out early that morning to set a new personal record for myself. I was going to run 12 miles (previous best was 10.2 miles)! I reached that goal, which was great...but I decided that that day was going to be exceptional. So even though everything inside of me was done...ready to go to the house to rest up and get ready for work, I decided to push through an extra 2 miles. That's right, I ran 14 miles on Friday, October 2, 2009--more than a half-marathon!

I need to begin dreaming new dreams and setting new goals for myself as this journey continues. Many of you know that I abhor only focusing on short term goals. Short term goals lead to short term success. So my ultimate goal will always be to be healthy--ongoing and lifelong. There is so much that I'll be able to do that would have been impossible just 10 months ago.

I'm done being big...it's time to dream big.