Three-Quarters the Man I Used to Be

With apologies to Nirvana for the title, it's time for another of my (very rare) health and weight loss updates. Back in January, Girl Scout Fiancée decided that we wanted to look good in our wedding photos, which was the perfect excuse for us to undertake some changes to the way we eat and live that we should have done for our health a long time ago, but always seemed to put off. Back in May, I posted an update that I was one-third of the way to my 120 lb weight loss goal, having lost 40 lbs. I can now happily say that I've reached the next milestone, which is 80 lbs lost. That puts me two-thirds of the way to my goal, and only a couple of weeks behind schedule (though, admittedly, I had an ambitious schedule to begin with).

It's a bit weird to look at a photo of myself and actually like how it looks.

I'm also happy to report that Girl Scout Fiancée has been doing a great job as well; though I'm not foolish enough to ask my dear fiancée about her weight, I know that she's been doing a great job of sticking to her plan, going to the gym, and, together, we've been eating healthier. I'm really proud of her, and I know she is happy about her progress as well. Proportionally, she has lost about the same percentage of her body weight as I have, so we're both looking a lot better. Girl Scout Fiancée has also been having a lot of luck with a program called DietBet, which she has done repeatedly over the course of the last few months, hitting her goals and getting her share of the pot each time. She's tried to get me to join in, but there's something superstitious in me that believes that the moment I sign up for something like that is the moment I stop losing weight.

It can be tough to feel like I'm progressing at times, especially on those weeks where the scale just doesn't seem to move. I still see only my physical flaws when I look in the mirror, and since I still have another 40 lbs to go before I hit my target weight, I still only see a chubby guy staring back at me. Yet, when I look at photos of myself from the last few years, even I can see a difference. Plus, there's nothing like putting on a T-shirt you got your freshman year of college, only to discover that it is starting to get a little baggy on you. I'm starting to harbor a little hope that I might actually look pretty good in my wedding photos!