Here's the new me, with Emiko and Hideo

I made my Weight Watchers goal almost a month ago. I have been waiting to blog about it until Todd took a good pic of me. He still hasn't done that, so this pic will have to do. I love this  pic; you just can't see all of me. I don't guess that really matters.

Here's the old me. Granted, I had just had a baby. But I was big before the babies. I can't blame them.  I mean, I did. But that was just an excuse!

I've lost 74 pounds since the beginning of March. When I started this new lifestyle, I weighed 230 pounds! That is a lot. Now I weigh 156 pounds. I went from wearing a size 18 or 20 to a size 8. I really like being a size 8. More than I ever realized, actually.

My cholesterol is low, my blood sugar level is low. My blood pressure is low, although it wasn't high to start with. I have a ton of energy and I feel great (except for always being tired, but that's thanks to my precious children!).

Now, I want to remind people, that this is not to suggest that everyone should do what I did. Or that this means now that I like myself. I liked myself a lot before. This hasn't made me happier -- although I do think it's made me a bit more vain. Which is not necessarily a good thing. I did this so I could try to be as healthy as I can be, so I can take care of my kids for as long as possible. That whole trying-to-avoid-cancer thing. Stupid cancer.

I was a healthy big girl, but now I'm a healthier "average" girl. I hate those qualitative words. Wii Fit now says I'm "normal," which simultaneously makes me happy and pisses me off. I was "normal" before, and the body mass index (BMI) is total bunk science. But that's what Wii Fit and Weight Watchers use to determine weight loss success, so I will stick with it. I had a BMI of 35 when I started, and now I have a BMI of 23.7.

OK, so I just wanted to update everyone on my success. I achieved my goal, and now I have to maintain this healthy lifestyle from now on. That's the hard part. But I've bought some really cute clothes, so that helps keep me motivated! I've been weaning myself from tracking points on Weight Watchers, since I don't really want to do that for the rest of my life. The largely vegetarian/ low fat diet is making that much easier. And I really like eating this way -- I don't feel deprived and it seems very sustainable for the long haul.

Thank you to everyone for your support and compliments -- it means a great deal. If you want to talk about how I lost the weight, I'm happy to do that, but otherwise I won't bug you about it. I've considered posting about products and tips that were helpful, but I don't know if people are interested. If you are, let me know. I don't want to be annoying or patronizing or just plain boring.