Day 199 -- My Vegan Odometer

I'm not sure why I get so excited about silly milestones in this year-long journey.  First it was one month, then two months, then one hundred days.  After that it was halfway through (one-hundred eighty-three days) and now my odometer is going to turn over from the hundreds into the two-hundred day mark.  Two-hundred days seems like a very long time.  In another seventy-four days, I'm going to be three-quarters of the way done with my year.  My birthday is also coming up.

So, I suppose now is as good a time as any to look at what I've achieved since the last "big day."  I spent most of June stuck at one weight.  Though I continued to eat healthy and light, nothing seemed to be moving.  And then, at the beginning of July, I got food poisoning and that all changed.  In the course of three days, I lost five pounds!  Though it was the worst way to shed weight, I think the illness shocked my body and the pounds started coming off again.  Since then, I've lost another two pounds.  Total weight loss -- 70 pounds!

I still haven't added exercise to the mix and it's really starting to show.  The skin on my arms and thighs is beginning to resemble a shar pei!  I watch "Extreme Weight Loss" and envy the contestants who get the skin surgery, then realize that I'd never be accepted on that show because I don't weigh enough -- which, of course, makes me very happy.

It's strange, the little things that seem to delight me these days.  What are some of the things I'm looking forward to?  Watching my weight loss odometer turn over and breaking into "one-der-land".  Watching my BMI move from obese to overweight and then, someday, to normal.  Reaching my one-year anniversary on December 27th.  Being able to fit into an old pair of Levi 501 jeans that I've never worn.  Hey, being able to fit into any of the old jeans I've kept that don't have an elastic waistband.

I can always find something to look forward to on this year-long journey.  And along the way, I seem to amuse myself with food.  Who would have ever thought two hundred days ago, that my major concern would be how I might be able to fit more chia seeds into my diet?  Or that I'd be eating beet greens?  Or nutritional yeast?   Life is good.

BTW, I should have used an odometer for my photo, but I couldn't resist the chance to put up the shar pei photo.