I knew I would succeed as soon as I was past induction. The ease of this WOE and the way it fit into my 'way' of thinking was part of it and losing an initial 9 pounds was the other.

I initally set my goal too high (150) because I still had an underlying fear I wouldn't make it if I set it "too low". Then I read somewhere that to set a goal too high was actually working AGAINST what I was trying to do. That the correct goal was the weight that I remember feeling 'best' at. So I reset it to 140-144 believing that a range was best, since I didn't believe for a second that I could wake up every morning for the rest of my life being at an exact weight.

On the journey downward, however, I did set mini-goals of every 5 pounds. I promised myself a reward each time I got to each goal, but I kept deferring the "reward" telling myself, "oh go on, you can do better" - this kept me motivated and I kept "upping" the reward. At 149 pounds I bought myself a ring in my birthstone (sapphire) - that was to reward me for going below my original goal.

Now my reward is how great I feel - I just shovelled 8 inches of snow for 45 minutes - I am not breathing hard, and I'm not sweating and nothing hurts.