50.8 pounds down and halfway there...

(***So sorry, Google Readers! I accidentally published an unfinished draft I'd saved instead of the full post!***)

As of Wednesday, I have officially lost 50.8 pounds.

That's, like, half a Snooki, y'all! :)

This journey has been a crazy one, and it definitely isn't over, but it's incredible to me how different my life already is from when I first started.

Here I am with my Houston bestie at her bachelorette party in September.  (And I'm just going to skate over all of the things I could say about how looking at this picture makes me feel because it's Friday, dadgummit, and I've got no time for melancholy.)

Here I am today... 50.8 pounds lighter.

The change is almost dumbfounding.  Especially considering that I'm only halfway to my goal!  And the feeling I had this morning when I was able to put on the same shirt I wore just a few days before my wedding? (Yep, the same shirt I'm wearing in that picture over there to the right.)  Indescribable.

I refuse to look back and wonder why it took me so long to get my brain to click into place.  And I can't beat myself up over the fact that I buried my head in the sand for so long.  Instead, I'm choosing to be thankful that:

- I'm no longer exhausted at the end of every day.

- I don't feel guilty at the end of every meal.

- The thought of squeezing into the seatbelt on an airplane doesn't give me anxiety. (It was getting pretty darned tight.)

- I'm not winded after going up a flight of stairs.

- I'm starting to feel like I look like me again.

- I'm almost back into a ton of cute work clothes.

- I'm almost back into a ton of cute lingerie.  Yeah, I said it. :)

- I "only" have fifty more pounds to lose. (Hey, I'm a glass half-full kind of girl.)

I definitely still have more work to do here.  I'm not done, and this definitely isn't over.  But I have done something significant, and looking back at where I started helps me picture where I'm headed with more clarity. 

And you know what?  

It's looking pretty darned fabulous from here. :)