Day 44: What 25 Pounds Looks Like

Update: 231.4 lbs, 26.8 lbs so far, 11.2 left to reach goal.

What exactly does 25 lbs look like? My first thought was to run down to the meat department at Freddys and see if they had any 25 lb turkeys in the icebox, but since it's not Thanksgiving season, I probably wasn't going to have much luck. I still have the image of Oprah rolling out 60 pounds of animal fat in a wheelbarrow on her show after she lost that much of her own, and it just made me curious about what I'd recently stopped carrying as well. Couldn't find a turkey, but did find a sweet picture of this dude with his 25 lb catfish...nice! Wrap that baby around my gut, and there you go.

In one of the early articles I read, someone suggested taking photos along the way so that you can see your progress. I figured 25 lbs might not be a bad milestone to take a gander. Since I see myself every day in the mirror, I know things are changing, but you kind of get used to the large-but-not-as-large-as-last-month guy I keep seeing. This first photo is an older one, but it was when I weighed 260 lbs before, which is just 1.8 lbs more than my starting 258.2 weight this time around. Be forewarned, it's not a pretty sight: (You should be able to click on it to see the full sized image.)



















Yes, that right jolly old elf was me, most likely after a week of Humdingers, Panang, and Sesame Chicken...just look at how happy I am in that picture, I guarantee Paddingtons was part of that happiness. A common joke I'd make to my wife was that my gut looked like someone was spilling pancake batter out of a wheelbarrow, but I think it's actually scarier than that. I also made a joke recently that if I was a cannibal, I'd be calling dibs on my cheeks, those babies are meaty! (sorry, that was kind of gross, I know....) You can see that when I originally took this picture, it scared me enough to make it my own Motivation poster, but that only lasted a few days before I didn't pay attention to it any more.

Ok, so here I am on this past Friday, a day or two after clearing the 25 lb mark in my calorie cutback funfest: (again, you should be able to click on it to see the full sized image.)



















Yeah, I know. It's like they're just announced open casting calls for the next JC Penny catalog, and I'm sending in my front and 3/4 view shots for consideration. I really thought about not taking or posting any pictures until I had hit my first big goal weight, but as I mentioned, I re-read the article talking about photo-journaling progress and figured 'what the heck.' This new photo actually serves an an even better motivator than before. because now I know it's all within my control.

This is pretty much the furthest I've made it any weight loss effort previously, just under 30 lbs, before starting to head back the other direction, so I'm pumped to feel like I can continue on motivated to further success. I'm close to my 38 lb goal, and am now starting to think about the 50 lbs in 3 months goal that Kyle Pott hit that originally inspired me, and then beyond that perhaps just pushing right on through to get to 200 lbs, which would be a 58 lb loss. But one step at a time...I'm baby stepping from Mexi-Claus to just one of his helpers.

Hasta, and Feliz Navidad (or Fleas Navidog, for thoset that get a kick out of that kind of stuff.)