Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m. a stranger rang my doorbell.  She asked for my driver's license and gave me a cup and sent me to the bathroom.  I came back a few minutes later and handed her a cup of pee.  No, this was not some sort of sick horror movie...I was actually having a paramedical exam as a requirement for my life insurance company.

A funny thing happened after I handed her my pee, she looked at me and said, "You need to get a new license."  Initially I thought, "No, my license doesn't expire until my birthday this year.", but then she added, "because there is no way this is your weight"  I looked at my license...and laughed a nervous little laugh.  Let me just say that the picture on my license should be burned.  Apparently when I was much fatter, I did not feel the need to smile.  I give you exhibit A:

Apparently I am NOT happy

The weight on my license was listed as 275 pounds - I was never a very good liar, so it was accurate at the time.  My weight as I stepped on her scale on Wednesday morning was 168.  Yeah, I guess I do need to get a new license, and I probably need to start smiling more too.

In addition to the weight, pee, and blood, she took my resting heart rate, which was 64.  An average resting heart rate for me, prior to starting running back in April 2010, was in the 80s.  Think about that.  My heart is working a good 20% less most minutes of the day than it was even one year ago!  If that doesn't demonstrate to you the importance of exercise, I'm not sure what will.  My blood pressure was 110/58 on my left side twice and even lower on my right side... she just shook her head and kind of laughed.  Hopefully I will be laughing all the way to the bank when I see my new life insurance rate.

Sometimes it is so nice to have another measure of success besides the number on the scale! 

Speaking of the number on the scale...it WAS down yesterday.  I was down a pound on Thursday at my weigh in.  I officially have 13 more pounds to lose, but I am nearly 7 pounds under my goal weight right now, so I am feeling good about that, AND I feel less scared about the PointsPlus plan, now that I have a loss under my belt. 

I've been having some insomnia lately, due to my 3 year old not sleeping well, and so my visits to the gym have suffered, but I am determined to get back on track this weekend.  If I'm going to for my 10k at the end of April (oh I didn't officially announce that, did I?  I guess I need to get right on that), I need to start training by the last week of January, so its time to gear up! 

No excuses, no looking back, no living in fear!