Major scale and non scale victories today!

And I'm not sure which I'm more excited about!

First, when I stepped on the scale today I saw 166. Yes, it was 166.8, but it was 166. I checked it three times! Finally, finally the scale is moving! Yay! These are numbers I've never seen on a scale- ever. We didn't own a scale at home growing up, so my weight wouldn't get checked often. So, I was either below them in early high school when I was still growing, or I was already over this weight. So these are new numbers for me  to see - ever  - in my life.

But the non scale victory felt even more huge.

This afternoon I took my younger son to the pool to practice for his swimming lesson. His lesson is a very short 10 minutes, so getting some practice time in between is crucial. With our busy week, I haven't been able to go until this afternoon.

So, we were practicing bobs (calling them Jack in the Bobs) and pushing off the side and sticking our faces in the water and so on. Then, finally we moved on to floating on our backs. Amazingly, he took right to it, but I still wanted to show him how I did the back float. I went to float and I couldn't float! My legs sank like lead! I was somewhat shocked. I'm in the pool every summer. I know how to swim very well and I've always been able to float. But now? My boobs and shoulders stayed up, but my feet sank straight to the floor of the pool and not very slowly. Like pretty quickly! I tried again and again. I had to kick pretty constantly to keep up! Wow!!!

Last summer when I had already lost a ton of weight (like 40-50 pounds) I still floated easily. I could float for hours I had so much fat. I didn't need any kicking or hand movements to keep up.  Then I thought back to when I was much younger - way back to high school. I could still float. I remember needing to flutter my hands a bit to keep up, but I have no memory at all of sinking like that. I've watched both my husband and older son sink in the legs, but me? Never.

And then it really, really hit me. More than the number on the scale this morning. I'm really not fat any more. The scale might seem high and I might feel blubbery with loose skin, but my body composition hads definitely changed. I'm leaner now than I have ever been in my life. Amazing! And it gave me that little extra push I've been needing to just keep at it.

Stats for 5/10/12:

Highest weight: 275  Now: 166.8