Hey, folks! I am back from Aruba, and as promised, have a couple pics for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure - don't want to make any assumptions!).
As is my trend, I am posting these shortly after my good buddy, Jo, it seems we have been side by side throughout the year, why stop now? Jo, I just wanted to take this moment to thank you for your support, understanding, and ongoing presence. It was just really helpful to feel like there was another person with such similar experiences and attitude throughout this diet, and I hope we'll continue to share this during maintenance!
People, I just got the digital camera, and I am just learning how to do this pic thing myself, so cut me a wee bit of slack, please! I will send more pics as I get them - but constantly asking people to take lone full body shots gets a little awkward! :-)
Oh, and that adorable little girl is my niece, Sami, how cute is she??
And just in case you all thought I FINALLY wasn't going to write some long-winded dissertation, you will be disappointed! :-) I do want to say this - for me, the switch "clicked" in my brain just before November 10th, 2005. I saw the results of Medifast on a woman, and went home and ordered product and started the diet. No looking back. No questions, no concerns, no cheating. I never had a goal weight, never had set date goals, none of it. I just knew that if I kept following the plan as it's laid out, that I would lose weight. And I did. My only goal was to feel "normal," to be unremarkable, to not have my body be what defines me. But when I got to a normal size 12, I decided that this diet is so easy, I might as well just keep on going. I now wear a size 8, I am 5'9" so that seems to feel right to me, I run 6x a week (plus strength training), read fitness and health magazines, and live like an athlete. I feel good, all the time, have bounce in my step, feel energized when I wake up, and life is just EASIER. Everything about life as a thinner person is just easier. Yes, it's nice to feel prettier. It's cool to get more attention. All the accolades are lovely. But the best most wonderful thing about losing all this weight is that everything is easier. Being in this world is easier. And that allows me to sleep better and wake each morning with pep in my step and a proud smile on my face.
Cheers to all of you in your quest for this good life, I know you can do it! :-)
Lauren