Friday, November 11, 2011

Mirror Image

Look at yourself naked in the mirror, side view and front. Take a hand mirror and reflect the image of your back. Do this at the beginning of  your diet and about once a month during your weight loss. After you lose about ten pounds you'll be asking yourself "Is my belly not hanging as low as last month? Do I have less flab hanging off my arm than I did before? And that creased fat hanging on my back above where my waist used to be--isn't it smaller?" But still you have your doubts. Maybe it's your imagination. But you reach a point where you can see that your belly is not hanging over your crotch. What a beautiful moment. That flab under your arm is not as deep or as flappy as earlier; you can see you have a waist and nothing is hanging over the back of  your elbow.

Try on your old pants. They're starting to hang lower than your waist instead of having to be hitched above it. Soon people begin to say "It's time for you to get a new wardrobe," and you plan a trip to the Goodwill or St. Vincent's or the Salvation Army Store. Best of all, you are feeling very good.

For six weeks I was worried that I was continuing my reduced calorie diet for nothing, because during those weeks I DID NOT LOSE A SINGLE POUND.  I admit I had feelings of discouragement. But I kept faith that my diet would kick in again, and I continued counting every calorie I ate and averaging the totals daily. Today my average caloric intake over the 278 days of my diet is 1555.

I saw my doctor this week for a physical in preparation for knee replacement surgery, and my weigh-in showed that I have lost 52 pounds. I am very pleased. My doctor is very pleased. My reflection in the mirror (sideways, front, and back) is far more pleasing than it was last Feb. 6, when I began counting my calories. I would like to lose about 30 more pounds, but I won't force it.




2 comments:

  1. I am so proud of you! I managed to lose the first 20 pounds quite quickly (four months) and now I just keep hovering around the same weight - it goes up a bit and down a bit, up again, down again. I've not been good lately - not sure if it's depression or just feeling rebellious, but definitely not making good choices. You are my inspiration to keep at it!

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    Replies
    1. Queenie, I'm sure you are doing just great! The weight loss does slow down greatly, so we have to continue to keep our diet going no matter what, and the pounds will start to disappear again. You are a good partner for me! I don't know anyone else who is actually trying to lose weight now.

      A friend of mine in Illinois who asks me a lot of questions about my diet keeps saying "I wish I could lose weight," but she never makes the effort to just start somewhere. Even if she took the candy bars out of her purse, it would be a good start because she wouldn't have all that temptation right at hand! I guess we all have to find our own way--or not.

      Keep up the good work.

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