MY WEEKEND - A LITTLE LONG - SORRY

Hi April Buddies: I wanted to share my weekend with you. It was actually a WOW weekend. I went home to Windsor, Ontario for my birthday and met with 2 of my girlfriends to go to the Casino. Both know I had the surgery, but have not seen me in a few months. I was 301 (size 30) when I started this journey and I am now 215 (size 16/18). So, 86 pounds down total. My friends are both size 18s. One is 225 pounds the other 230. I know it sounds evil, but I am so thrilled that I am lighter than them. I am finally the one who is smaller! Sorry for gloating, but hey, it feels good! So, anyway, the topic of conversation that evening was weight and how hard it is to loose. They say they try everything and have just given up! I totally felt for them, that is why I did what I did to loose this weight. As the evening went on they both had very high calorie mixed drinks (brown cows and margaritas). Then we went to dinner at the Chinese. They both had big combo plates for one, and starting eating mine as I could only have a few bites. After that we headed for Starbucks. I had a no fat, no sugar, decafe small latte. They had largest whip cream, caramel mocha what evers, and A PIECE OF CHOCOLATE MOCHA CHEESE CAKE (each)......as they sat there again saying they have tried everything to loose weight! Sound familiar??? I guess I was not aware of how much food I was putting in my mouth and always thought I ate like everyone else...only everyone else is not eating well either!!!! We live in a world of large portions, processed food and poor eating habits and try to tell ourselves it is ok, because we are eating what everyone else is eating! No wonder we are so freaken fat! We are so blessed to be given this wake up call. We need to take care of our families and educate our children on good nutrition and healthy food choices. The buck does not stop at us! My daughter is not overweight. She is adopted from China and is very small, but I have seen these Chinese children get fat. So she is learning along with me about food, portion and exercise. Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to share my thoughts this Monday morning. HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Shelster, You are so right....it is amazing what we used to put in our mouths. I am ashamed to say that I have felt that feeling of superiority (if you will) when you are in control and your buddies aren't. People eat so freakin' much!!! You have hit the nail on the head when you said we need to teach our children. We need to stop the cycle. Your observations are right on and are insightful. Thank you for reminding me to be a stong influence with my children. Have a great day yourself! Cyndi

Its amazing to realize how much we have changed our eating habits. While I eat smaller portions, I don't think they're all that small. Yet, my steps comment on how little I eat. The youngest commented about a local restaurant having such small portions (one of their dinners would make 3-4 meals for me)! I fear she is on the road to obesity just like me, her mom, and her sisters (mom and oldest sister are in the morbidly obese if not super morbidly obese catagory). This country has such a warped sense of what is a normal portion size we don't recognize how much we eat. Melissa

Congratulations on all of your success. I notice how much people eat too. I feel bad noticing sometimes (I don't say anything). Now I realize how often people must have been looking at what I was eating and just shaking their heads. I think some heavy family members or friends get a little freaked when suddenly you're not the fattest anymore. I guess they found some solace in the fact that even though they were fat they weren't the fattest. Suddenly my Mother is hell bent on losing weight..... strange since now I'm smaller than she is. Coincidence? hmmm ;) I never realized how poorly I was feeding my family before. I guess I thought as long as we had a meat and a vegetable we were eating well. Now that the food in the house is different everyone in my family has lost weight, not just me. My older son recently went off to college so I'm not sure how easy it is going to be for him to keep up the healthy eating at college. Lizzie