What a great day

OMG I'm on a high.

I'm on the way to my beloved Buttonwood Bay. We'll arrive Friday.

I got to meet Heather on Monday! What a gal! She wrote about me here...how freakin cool is that???? I'm a shining star! lmao I was standing in line at her Weight Watcher meeting to get weighed. Yes, I gained. Was there any doubt? Up 1.7 this week. It's all good though. So, I'm standing in this line. Heather had asked me to say a few words at the meeting. I thought she meant a few words. Did I prepare? No. The lady in front of me and I struck up a conversation, natch. She was all excited like and said 'We're supposed to have a guest speaker today! Heather said we had to be on our best behavior!' OMG I'm now a guest speaker and I didn't prepare!!! I'm shy you know! This lady was great, as were the 3 behind her. We chatted the whole time we were in line. I didn't tell her that I WAS the guest speaker...I just said 'interesting' when she said that.

My mind was a little whirling dervish. There are a lot of things that I want to share with people about weight loss. I had a chance. I didn't want to mess it up. I really wish I'd prepared. First of all I wasn't going to tell them how much I've lost. To me, that isn't inspirational at all. Losing any weight, in a consistent manner, is what it's all about. If you keep at it long enough, the number gets bigger. That's all. TJ is my hero by the way. I've never really mentioned it here. She is a losing rock star. Why? Because she doesn't put the big losses up there. Every single freaking week she loses .6 or .8 and I love it. I've got goosebumps typing this in fact. Can you EVEN imagine what we could all accomplish if we lost .6 each week and didn't have the huge whopping gains in there????? OMG we would rock this world!!!!! I so love you TJ...I've never told you, but I'm coming out of the proverbial closet right here and now! You rock girlfriend!!!!

Crap just once I'd like to start off on a theme and stay with it. OK, here's things I wanted to share and am not really sure if I did.

1. Love yourself. You gotta do it. Find something about yourself you love and focus on it. You are worthy, you are awesome. You have to believe it. When one woman said to me 'you don't have any wrinkles'...I didn't give her a chance to finish. I said, very happily I might add, 'I know! Isn't it great???'! I meant it. I look in the mirror and I see a face that doesn't really, really, look 50. I'm freaking happy. Do I like everything I see when I look in the mirror? Hell no!!! Good Lord there are things that I wish I never had to look at. Know what? I just don't look. Simple as that. I look at the good stuff and faf over the bad. Clothes hide a multitude of sins boys and girls! Are you butt ugly? Fat rolls hanging everywhere? Can't find one hair you love? Are you a happy person? Do you make others smile??? Are you a loving parent??? You do something good. Everyone does. Find that something. Own it. Revel in your success in it. Love it. You are a great person. Believe it yourself and others will!!!

2. No guilt. Did you overindulge? Did you go on an eating frenzy that would make Jaws blush? Own it. Can you change it by feeling guilty about it? Nope. Move on. If it made you uncomfortable, remember that feeling next time you're tempted to binge.

3. Learn from your mistake. Last summer I gained a ton of weight. I bought bigger pants to go to FL as my jeans were so tight I couldn't sit comfortably in the car. I planned to throw them away when I got to FL. That didn't happen. I kept them, and oozed more fat into them until January. They were tight then. It took me until May to get out of them. Maybe June. When I finally got back into the size 16's, I took those size 18's to my meeting and gave them away!!! Oh ya, I may be old, but I can still learn. My size 16's are tight right now. I've gained a ton in the last month. I learned from my mistake though. I'm NOT buying size 18's. I'll suffer in these. Yep, old dogs, new tricks....bring it on!!!

4. Baby steps. I can't say it enough. Slow and steady wins the race and all those other cliches. They're true. Sure, we'd all love to lose 10 pounds a week. We didn't gain it that fast and we ought not to be losing it that fast. Take it slow, plod along, the goal will come. Sure, it might take a long time. So what? Try not to focus on how long it's going to take. Get started, do whatever it takes to lose a chunk. Pretty soon you can just focus on 'wow I've lost 10 pounds'. Not 'groan I have 540 pounds left to lose'. OK so this is two things...sue me.

There are probably more things I'd like to share...but it's time to hit the road here.

Heather, it was a pleasure to meet you. Kent? What a doll baby. If we lived near you, we could cause some major trouble! Will we stop on our way back in FL??? Hell yes we will. Would I attend your WW meeting? Oh God yes! I hope WW knows what a gem they have in you. What an inspiration. What a ball of energy.

I'm just so happy right now.

:-)