55 in 52: No, I haven't given up!

Starting weight: 185
Goal weight: 130
Current weight: 168
Lost so far: 17 lbs.

Summer vacation is officially over! I spent the last few days in recovery, curled up on the couch doing a lot of nothing, and now I'm feeling much better. I put in a pretty decent workout today and reserved Forrest's gym care for next week so I can settle in to gym rat life again. I am actually SO excited about that.

Obviously I haven't been updating much for the last, oh, month or so and I've actually had a couple of you call me on it (kindly, of course, because that's how you people are), which I really appreciate! One of you has even suggested that I post photos of this process. I've actually gone back and forth on the photo question since I decided to blog the weight loss to begin with, and the thought of it still seems weird, but who am I to defy the will of the masses? ;)

I never really took an official before picture, so this will have to do:

April 2010, 185 lbs.

And this is me today, at week 16 (I think):

August 5 2010, 168 lbs.

So you can see some progress there. I think the biggest difference is in my face. (And are you loving my flip-flop tan?)

And just for fun, here are some waaaay "before" pictures from my heaviest point, dang near 200 lbs.

January 2009, 198 lbs.

And I was even sucking in in that picture! ;)

But the next picture is my favorite picture of my progress so far:

A few weeks ago I discovered that my engagement ring fits again. I haven't been able to wear it for probably 5 years or so because it's been too small (yes, I know that they can size rings, I just never got around to it, ok?). Now it fits comfortably again! Just in time for anniversary #8. It makes me so happy to look down and see it on my hand again.

In addition to my big goal, which I am amazingly still on track for (I say "amazingly" because I haven't exactly been a model of self-discipline this last month), I've set a mini-goal for myself to get down to my wedding weight by the time Tim comes home for R&R. It's a very doable goal as long as I keep focused. I'm feeling really motivated again all of a sudden (proof: I haven't eaten a single piece of my left-over birthday cake today. I haven't really even wanted to!), so I hope to have some good results to report soon!