60 is the new 20

9th Apr 2010

I was recently talking to someone on the phone about my weight loss and at the time she had not met me so wanted to see a before picture of me. I told her I lost 60 pounds and she thought that was incredible - until she saw my before picture. I could hear her voice change over the phone as she said, “Oh, you’re not that fat.” You just look kind of chubby.” I told her that I was 60 pounds overweight and lost it all and that’s not chubby - that’s fat. She took a second and then agreed. Yes, that’s a lot of weight to lose. And speaking for myself - YES it was… And I still work to keep it off.

But this morning I got to thinking about that conversation. When I was in high school years ago no one was fat. Maybe one or two schoolmates but not like today. I wasn’t even fat. I was “chubby” then. I needed to lose probably 20 pounds back then and at the time that was considered a lot to lose. But today, since 66% of the country is so overweight 20 pounds doesn’t seem like very much anymore. People who have weight issues are almost always 40 - 60 - 100 pounds overweight, so it seems to me that 60 pounds is the new “chubby”. My body mass index was in the obese range yet I was not the fatest person I knew, far from it. I had even allowed myself to think that I wasn’t all that overweight.

Now that I have lost all that weight I cannot imagine gaining even 20 back and to gain all 60 pounds - well, I will never do that. This is the first time that I can say that for sure. After almost (coming up on) 4 years since I started this journey and always thinking that I could gain it all back - I now know that I will not. I will never be fat again.

And you don’t have to be either. Let me hear from you. What can I do to get you started and how can I help you stay on a path that leads to a healthier you? I know you are beautiful - do you know that? Once you know that and truly believe it - your life will change in ways that you cannot imagine. And you are beautiful if you never lose a single pound. I’m not on the “everybody needs to lose weight” bandwagon. This is your life and should be lived on your terms.

But if you do want to lose weight - first you must realize that 60 pounds is NOT chubby.

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Oprah on, “Women, Food and God” the book

6th Apr 2010

I record Oprah’s talk show on my DVR everyday just to see what she’s got cooking (literally). She has so many great guests and she has a weight related show 3-4 times a month and they’re usually very informative.

Yesterday she talked about a book title, “Women, Food and God” and mentioned that she had an except from it on her web site. If you have not read the article in O Magazine (I subscribe) or read this book, I urge you to check out the article on www.Oprah.com - it was wonderful. Most of what the article talks about I found out for myself in my own weight loss journey, but when someone like Oprah puts it out there MILLIONS of people like me (in the overweight community) will be helped by reading it. My book is finished and I’ve written about much of what this book talks about - but I don’t know if or when my book will see a major audience, and this kind of message cannot wait. So - in the meanwhile - check out the article on Oprah’s site and let me know what you think.

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