Staying Fitness Focused

I've been a bit discouraged lately not seeing the scale move. In actuality it rose a few months ago and now won't go back down again. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I'm at 152 lbs. Still sitting comfortably in an 8 pants and 6 shorts with a small 4-6 top but the scale says I'm higher since I was at 144 lbs.  I've been working hard at the gym, doing squats every day, running and watching what I eat.. Still nothing.

So to help encourage me to keep going I thought I'd post a before and current photo of me to help show me that I've changed and things are better than what they used to be.

This is me back in 2010 at my heaviest of 174 lbs.

This is me now. I know I want the scale to say the magic number and maybe it never will so I just have to keep focusing on how I feel. That my muscles are more toned than they ever have in my life, that I have less jiggle where there used to be lots. AND.. the best part.. I feel great in my own skin.. 

I'm hitting the big 4..0.. in August. I had a set goal in mind before I reached that aged milestone and I now realize it's not going to happen. I figured by now I would easily be sliding into a weight of 130 lbs which has ultimately been my goal from the beginning.

I've now come to realize that it's not the weight number on the scale but what I look like in the mirror. I remember being 130 lbs. That was the size I was when I married my beloved back in 1997. I was a size 8 then. I'm technically 22 lbs heavier than that but am in a size 8 now. Why? Because muscle weighs more than fat. 

With all my running, weightlifting and gym workouts, I've built up muscle. I didn't have that years ago. So I guess working out and exercising is paying off.. Plus I'm living a more natural unprocessed diet. I just have to keep taking one day at a time and maybe someday I'll hit that magic weight number, or maybe not. I just need to remember, I like the new me right now so everything else is a bonus!