Tomorrow is the big day

In 24 hours, I will be weighing in for the final time in 2010. It will have been a full year since I began my weight-loss journey. I'm nervous, yet excited. A couple of months ago, I set a goal of reaching 80 pounds lost by the end of the year. Based on this morning's number on the scale, I won't quite make it. Depending on how today goes (I am eating dinner out tonight), I think I'll be at about 77 pounds. That's amazing!

A year ago, I didn't believe I could do it. In fact, if it hadn't been for my colleagues convincing me to join them in the Biggest Loser challenge at the office, I wouldn't have even tried. I would have continued down the same path I had been on. And it wasn't a good one. Instead, I've had an awesome year.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to review how I did it. The first week of January I signed up for Weight Watchers online. I spent the first six months of the year following the points system. I was strict and kept track of everything I put in my mouth. The success was immediate and steady. By July, I'd lost 50 pounds. I felt fantastic. A lot of the aches and pains I experienced previously had disappeared and I just felt better.

By the end of July, I knew it was time to get in shape so I started walking. The first time I walked The Loop at Wrightsville Beach, I thought I might pass out. But I stuck with it, walking The Loop or around my neighborhood a couple of times a week. My rate of weight loss slowed dramatically, but the shape of my body started to change rapidly. I've had to buy a new wardrobe twice in the past six months because everything keeps getting too big.

I've still been using the Weight Watchers online system to track my eating, but I haven't been as diligent in the past three months. It's obviously made a difference because I haven't lost a lot of weight. Keeping track is clearly the key to success. The good news, though, is that I've learned to make good choices even when I'm not keeping track. I am still losing weight, just much slower.

When I talk about how I did it, though, I have to stress that having support from friends, family and co-workers has been essential to my success. I've been surprised at how encouraging people have been. I was so afraid in the beginning to even talk about my weight and my goals. I was embarrassed and afraid I would fail. I didn't start this blog until June.

Now, I see that so many people struggle with the same issues. And those who don't clearly are more understanding than I thought they'd be. One of the great benefits of this journey is that I've made a bunch of new friends. I've used my weight loss as an excuse to make this year about trying new things. I can honestly say that this journey has resulted in me changing who I am and how I approach life (most of the time). I do all sorts of things now that I would have never done in the past. And I'm having the most fun.

Part of this journey also has involved finding inspiration and motivation. I've found both in the strangest places and sometimes from people when I least expected it. Most people probably don't even know that they've had a role in my success. All I can say is that if I've met you in the past year, you've probably inspired me in some way to keep at it. So thank you.

As I head into 2011, I want to return to the days of tracking everything. It's hard to do when I eat out a lot, but it's not impossible and I know it will help jump start my weight loss in the new year. I also want to step up my exercise. I'm still thinking about what my next goal will be. I'd like to get to 100 pounds lost by a certain date, but I want the goal to be reasonable, so I'm still debating what that date will be.

What's important is that I end the year knowing that I achieved something I never thought possible and I enter the new year believing that I will reach my next goal. I am at the point where losing weight is more about dealing with mental obstacles than physical ones.