I hopped on a plane at LAX with a dream and my cardigan…(wait, wrong post).

Ever since Saturday’s challenge session about life at your goal weight at Fitbloggin, I’ve thought a lot about how our identities transition over the course of our weight loss journey. Roni Noone, who has been at goal for a few years and has done everything from Crossfit competitions to writing a children’s book in her “after” stage, talked a lot about how you move on from losing weight but you keep that identity because that is season is still a part of you life.

For a while, I have beaten myself up about not really making any progress over the past couple of years. While I have maintained a 100 pound weight loss for close to three years now, I have improved my life in other ways, some of which were not physical.

You see, weighing 357 pounds carries a lot of emotional baggage as well. I wasn’t confident (I was, but it was all a ruse. It’s nothing like the real self-confidence I now have…oh crap, I’m about to cry while typing this on the plane…) and I felt like everyone was judging me one way or another. If it wasn’t because of the weird things I said/yelled, it was just the very fact that this lumbering gentleman was in their personal space.

This was always the case when I would fly.

From 2004 to 2010, I would not use a seat belt on an airplane because I needed a seat belt extender. I would only use it if they asked me if I would like to us one. It my twisted view, I didn’t really see the merit in a seat belt. If we were going down, we were going down. There wasn’t any amount of turbulence that was going to move this mountain of fast food.

When I got on the plane on Thursday, not only did I not need a belt extender, I didn’t feel like I was spilling over in to the seat next to me. What’s even more awesome about it is that I don’t worry about that stuff anymore, nor have I for the past four years. It’s crazy how much sanity just feeling normal creates for your psyche.

Regardless of the actual number on the scale (which we all track down to the ounce) I have still done some amazing things for my health during this season of my life. Not only have I added years of health to my life, I have reduced numerous layers of social stress that I used to deal which included everything from worrying that I was eating too much in front of my friends and family to the guilt of having one of my many rolls intruding on to the person sitting next to me.

My challenge to is to celebrate those victories along your journey as well. Be proud of yourself and enjoy this new life of awesomeness!