Eight Weeks.

On January 6,  I measured 198.6 on my scale. I think that's a great thing, because I haven't been below 200 pounds since 2006, six years ago.

I am 201.5 today, because ghrelin (the hunger hormone) made an appearance yesterday by shouting "I'm fucking starving!" So instead of fighting the issue, I had a big refeed day. Over 2,500 calories, and if my body wanted that for one day in order to continue with the diet sanely, then it's gonna get that refeed. And no, I don't feel guilty. I wish it hadn't had to happen, but like I've mentioned before, the body plays nasty tricks with hormones once it starts giving up its fat stores. And it is. So nyah, nyah, ghrelin. I'm going to wait this out, because one day of hunger is  not going to derail me. Give it your best shot!

200 has also been a set-point for me in the past. It's a struggle to get below it, because somehow my body has also decided it's a comfy place to hang out, come-on, why-not-stay-awhile, and what's-the-big-rush? The scale has been bouncing around it since Dec. 27. Sooner or later it'll go, and good riddance.

This past week I've also noticed a weird sensation. When I put my pants on, I am no longer feeling quite so much belly when I zip up. I have been so fat for so long that my disappearing flesh is frankly, disturbing. It SHOULD be there, yet it's not. It's what I've been working towards, but at the same time, it is starting to make my body feel a bit alien to me. I can live with that, but it is a little freaky that I've been fat for so long that having a smaller body feels odd. I wonder how I'm going to feel when my legs aren't the size of fair-pig-sized ham hocks.

Going below 200 is also giving me access to a new milestone I will likely hit this week: I will officially be below 30BMI when the scale says 196. I will be out of the obese category and into the overweight category. This is not just another number on the scale, it's an entire category. I don't know when I bought into the whole "I am obese" mentality, but coming out of it is like emerging from a dark hole into a sunny place. I literally can't wait.

I recently bought a Tanita InnerScan scale to replace my old Tanita. It was not as accurate as the new one, and doesn't give me all the cool readouts. The new one does however, do one thing I don't really like. Double plus marks on the weight readout, indicating obesity. As if I didn't know. Really, Tanita? A flashing ++ on my scale when I check my weight is just a reminder of how much further I have to go, rather than a reminder that I've reached a significant amount of weight loss.

And yes, hitting 199 has also been significant, it is a total of 30 pounds lost since early July, when I started tracking with the bodybugg and started trying to bring my weight back into a semblance of normality.

I have a lot to be happy about this week. And it's all because of the JUDDD Experiment. Why give JUDDD all the credit? I was dieting for five months and lost 15 lbs. The other half of it has taken eight weeks, less than two months. I call that phenomenal.