It’s 9am Friday, and today is my check-in day. I just stepped off the TANITA scale in the office and I’m holding off on looking at the little slip of paper that the scale prints. It gives you a read-out of your weight, calculates body water and fat percentages, bone mass, visceral fat (the kind that wraps like a band around your organs and can be hard to get rid of), and BMI. After a less than perfect week, I was really hoping I had turned things around and made some progress this time.

I glanced at the slip of paper and saw something I didn’t recognize: a “1”, and some other numbers. “197.4”, exactly. I don’t know how to describe it, but I was kind of shocked! This was the first time in years I’d been on a scale and seen or heard anything that didn’t start with a “2”.

I looked at the other coaches and said plainly, “I’m under 200 lbs for the first time in 4 years”. After a minute, the reality of that number settled in and I was extremely happy! I couldn’t believe that in such a short time, with just a couple setbacks, I have really made a difference in how I eat, how I feel, and how healthy I have become. What’s even better is that I have made some great strides creating healthy eating habits for life. My BMI has dropped 3 points and my visceral fat rating dropped 2 points, with a 5% drop in total body fat. Every number that needs to go down on that report is going in the right direction, DOWN!

I saw a couple friends out a few days ago before I really knew how many pounds I had lost. I haven’t seen them since the week I started the ITG Diet but I told them all about it back then. One of them looked at me and said he couldn’t believe how much different I looked, and the other friend didn’t immediately recognize me; when he did he said it was a really impressive difference! It was such a good feeling to get that kind of a response, since most people I know see me almost every day or so and won’t always notice the smaller changes week to week. The positive support gives me the determination I need to keep going and get to my goal weight, hopefully sooner than I think!

4 weeks into diet: lost 20.2 lbs, down to 197.4

Joe Packo