Buh-bye plateau

I won't miss you. Nope, not one little bit. Its been a looong two and half months and it feels fabulous to see the scale moving again. The thing I can't figure out is this: I behave and eat the nutrisystem food, tossing money down the drain in the process as the stuff is expensive, but don't lose for all that time. Then I took a break and had pizza--real pizza, crispy crust, full fat cheese, dripping with veggies (the pizza shop is Springfield, VT is amazing!) and the next day I was down 3 pounds. Go figure. Another few days of behaving and then it was time to drive the kids to New York for a visit with their father...well Red Lobster is one of my favourite spots to eat, and the closest one is Kingston, NY. Yes, we ate there. It was delicious and worth every bite. The next day? Down another three pounds. I don't know if it is because of the higher amount of calories kicking me out of some sort of starvation mode or if it just happened to coincide with the plateau ending, but either way I'm thrilled to see downward motion. I'm now down to 205 and can almost smell the 190s on the breeze. Someone pointed out that I have now lost 1/5th of the weight I have set out to shed--something that hadn't registered before, but a pretty significant landmark to notice. I've also dropped 10% of my starting weight, which is enough to realize real health benefits. Yes, I still have 80 pounds to go, but its one step at a time.

The 22 pounds that are now gone are also enough that people who haven't seen me in a while notice right away. When I took the kids to NY, I stopped in to see my friend Nadja on the way back--its been nearly two years since I saw her. She's taken charge of her life again as well--down a lot of weight, stopped drinking, and stopped smoking pot. I'm thrilled for her, because I was really worried for a while--she was in a horrible downward spiral that began with a back injury a few years ago. Well, her ex husband gave me quite the compliment while I was there--he blurted out that I had lost a ton of weight and was looking great. Thanks! His next comment was high praise indeed coming from him, though I have to admit my internal dialogue ran through quite the response when I heard it. "Hey, when you finish with this [weight loss], come by and see me. I've been celibate for 17 years now." First of all, I'm picky about who I choose to have a relationship with and I never just have casual sex. Secondly, this man is a train wreck--its never going to happen buddy. *lol* I was able to appreciate the compliment however, and thank him for that despite the chorus of "eeeeeewwwww" in my brain. I've been celibate myself for the last two years, but by choice since I am not in a place to have a relationship right now and I prefer to wait and have sexuality be a part of a meaningful relationship instead of just a recreational activity. I'll wait until we have moved and then if a relationship happens, I'll cross that bridge. In the interim I have plenty of other avenues with which I can sublimate sexual energy--not the least of which is getting the remaining 80 pounds off of my frame!