Thanks again, so much, to everyone who has posted their congrats. I thought I'd get on here and post a few other of my NSVs. Maybe someone starting off where I was will see how you don't have to even be anywhere close to goal before it really starts paying off!
1) When I started, my lower legs looked like someone else's. They were so swollen! That is essentially gone, when I look down now, I see my own feet and legs. My toes are, dare I say, looking cute! It's still a chore to polish them, but I can do it -- and I bother now!
2) My knees are not killing me anymore! Oh, they hurt from time to time, but no more constant misery.
3) I walk in to my work from the parking garage with ease, and before I would be thinking to myself the whole way in, I can't even comfortably walk in there, how am I going to do a 12 hour shift??
4) Getting off the family room couch used to be a real effort. It's kinda low. I noticed the other day that I got up from the couch without any real effort. It scares me to think that getting off the couch used to be something I had to mentally prepare myself for. No wonder I would stay put once I got there!
5) I have discovered that eating and cooking healthful, satisfying meals, is very gratifying and enjoyable to me. I have found out that "dieting" does not have to mean being hungry and deprived all the time. I did not have to give up my love of food -- I love food now as much if not more than before! I love buying it, cooking it, serving it to my family, and eating it - with no remorse.
6) I found out I can walk a mile in the mornings with one of my dogs, and another 1/2 mile with the other one in the afternoons -- and really enjoy it! Like enjoy it to the point if I miss it, I'm disappointed. Exercise does not have to = torture. It can feel like "going out to play", as I saw another poster call it.
7) My work pants (scrubs) are really getting too embarrassingly loose, I must buy the next size down soon. Tops that long ago went to the back of the closet for being too tight are fitting now!
8) I actually WANT to be 'intimate' with my husband now.
Putting some of these down in black and white really solidifies for me why I am doing this, and how WORTH IT it is!!
