40 pounds gone

The plateau seemed like it would never end, but not only did it end, its receded far into the distance. As of today I am officially down fourty pounds! Not only am I out of the 200s, I am actually fairly well into the 180s at 187, and it is a marvelous feeling. All my sweat and effort at the gym is paying off in the form of smaller measurements, a modest amount of muscle definition, and best of all--a dramatic drop in weight on the trusty scale. I'm now confident that even if I retain water, I'll remain under 200 pounds, and as far as I'm concerned, I'll never see 200 again unless I'm holding something heavy (like the cats) whilst on the scale.

I celebrated with a nice long swim two days in a row--I can actually accomplish 3/4 of a mile in 45 minutes, and although I've very tired by the time I finish, I'm not as tired as I was the first time I did that. My shoulder starts aching during the last 3 laps or so, and I've taken to compensating with easier arm strokes and increased kicking power to avoid aggravating it during those last few laps. My guess is that it'll be a good month or so before I'm ready to go beyond the 3/4 mile mark. For now I'm out of the pool for a week and a half, as the gym is closed for rennovations and some much needed pool improvements--I'll have to content myself with the equipment over at the Montpelier branch of the gym. :( They have a much nicer locker room, but the actual equipment isn't as varied as at my home facility. Oh well--at least its still gym access. In anticipation of the impending closure, after my swim today I hit the elliptical trainer for what seemed like a very easy half hour--given the swim directly beforehand, I'm surprised the machine seemed so very easy...I would have expected it to be more of an effort. I must be getting into shape, eh?