weigh in/support group/long, but encouraging

[Guest guest]

Ok, 1st I weighed in this morning at 211. That is a total of 3 lbs lost

this week (one I had already reported). Wahoo! That means a total loss of

(drum roll please)... ... ...dun-da-da-DA: 64 lbs! When I went to the Dr.

this week, I discovered that I had the wrong weight listed as my highest. I

actually was 2 lbs larger. Well, I want credit for those 2 lbs too (smile),

so I added them in to the total. I have increased my exercise and that got

the scale moving again. Also, I was getting 'before' and 'so-far' pictures

ready for my support group meeting last night. Well, the most current

picture I have is actually about 7 lbs ago. Well, I wouldn't have thought

that 7 lbs would make much difference, but boy it does. I handed the pics

to my dh, and he said, " Wow, how long ago was this? Your face looks much

thinner now. Your cheekbones are much more defined. " When I looked I could

see that he was right! I am hoping eventually to post the new pics on the

web-site, but for now I still cant get it on the computer. Argh!

Thanks for all the encouragement about my new group. It was TERRIFIC. I

ran up and down the stairs several times while getting ready, and I do mean

RAN. I didn't have an asthma attack at all. In fact, although my heart

rate went up, I never did even get short of breath at all. I felt that was

a good omen for the evening. There were 14 people that came and 3 more had

a different meeting last night, but plan to come. It was a great mix of

people. Some have 10 lbs to lose, some have 200 lbs to lose, but most have

50-100. There was one teenage girl, 3 ladies my mom's age, and the majority

were 30-40. Everyone was VERY open and accepting. It was wonderful. The

cool thing for me was when I sat down to talk. I took a breath to begin,

but before I could, several voices interrupted me to ask if I had pictures,

how I did it, and to tell me I looked good. I felt like a star! <G> It was

really kind of embarrassing, but in a nice way. People would say, " I saw

you doing such and such, and I suddenly thought, 'WOW! That is Cherilyn!' "

We had our meeting and by the time I got home there was already an e-mail

telling me how great the meeting was and a message from my mil saying that

her friend who attended was thrilled with the group and motivated by my

little talk!

Now for the milestone. On Halloween night, I didn't wear my costume. I was

in too big of a hurry, so I just wore a very fitted shirt and my new ck

jeans. Well, when I walked into the church carnival holding Carahlyne, the

music minister's size 3 wife asked if she could snap our picture. Well, she

did and I didn't think anything more about it. However, Sunday morning she

stopped me in the hall and said, " Here is the photo I took. Isn't it great

of both of you? " I looked at the picture and was stunned. It is a good

picture of both of us. I look happy and comfortable. That is the first

time in YEARS I have not been miserable in front of a camera. That is not

the biggest thing though. The biggest thing was when I looked at that

picture I didn't see a fat woman. I saw a woman who could lose some weight,

a woman who still falls into the, " Gee, if she lost weight she could be

pretty-ish " category, b u t ...NOT A FAT WOMAN. I must have looked like an

idiot, standing in the hall staring at my own picture. But I suddenly

realized that that precious baby in the picture doesn't have the 'fat mom'

anymore. She will NEVER remember having the 'fat mom.' So, for me

Halloween turned into Independence Day. I know the fight isn't over, I

still have 51 lbs left to go. However, some of my BIGGEST most heartfelt

goals were to lose enough weight to run and play with my kids, to be healthy

enough to enjoy them fully, to teach them to lead healthy lives; and

according to the evidence of my own eyes, those goals have been reached!

Thanks to all of you, my friends, family, and fellow losers <g> who have

encouraged me so far. You can't possibly understand how much your support

means or how large your role has been in the first act of this little drama

of mine.

Cherilyn

Psalm 37:4 & 5