In less than six days, I will pack my car, fill the gas tank and point it west for the three-day return trip to my life in Southern California.

[caption id="attachment_532" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Ready to go home"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-010.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-532" title="Texas 010" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Texas-010-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a>[/caption]

I'll be leaving without most of the clothes I brought with me when I came to Texas at the end of April. My plan is that all the XXLs and XLs will be gone from my wardrobe with the exception of a couple of hoodies and jackets that I really like.

I not only got rid of the size 42 jeans I came in, I've also given away the 38s I bought after my initial weight loss. I'll ride home wearing a pair of size 36 Wranglers, jeans I hope will serve me for the next couple of months while my quest to get under 200 pounds continues.

When I weighed in today, as I do every Monday morning here, I was down 55 pounds for the 10 weeks I have been in the program. That's either 220 pounds dressed or 217 undressed, and while I don't expect to keep losing 5.5 pounds a week, I do think I'll be crossing the legendary 200 barrier before the end of the summer.

My goal all along has been to lose 100 pounds, but I honestly don't know if at age 60, and with the muscle I have added from all my exercising here, if I have another 45 pounds of fat to lose.

I know there's no hope of enough healthy weight loss to get down to 160, which I did twice in my thirties, and that means I'll never again wear the 30-inch jeans I last squeezed into in 1989.

That doesn't really matter, though. For all my optimism then, I suppose I knew deep down that I could never maintain the weight loss back then. This time, I know in my heart that once I am under 200 pounds, I am there to stay. I will never be fat again, because no matter what my body looks like, I no longer have a fat man's mentality.

I'm a little bit nervous about getting out of the routine here and getting back into my old life, but I know I can handle it.

Things have changed -- for the better.

And for good.