HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Today is the one year anniversary of my WLS. A year ago I weighed 278 pounds and was literally eating myself to death. Today I weigh 148 pounds--A loss of 130 pounds! Who knew life could feel this good! My weight loss has been slow, but boy do those pounds add up! I wanted to share my happiness with the WLS community as only you can understand the emotional victory and physical freedom I am feeling right now. As I write this I am in Europe. I have spent the last eight (8) weeks walking,climbing stairs and spending hours moving about with agility and ease. This would have been virtually impossible a year ago. More importantly, my weight loss has given me to ability to reconcile with my family. For years I was too ashamed to let them see what I looked like. I don't have anything profound to say at this moment. I just wanted to express my pride and pleasure with my fellow WLS community since we are all fighting the same battle. And it certainly is not an easy one. My best wishes and continued success to all of you too! ROBYN 278/148/135

Robyn, Congratulations on your success over the past year. Your numbers are great but what was more important to me was how you expressed your joy in your ability to things that a year ago would have been virtually impossible. That is the real way to measure our sucess - certainly we all want to look better but what an exhilirating feeling not to be limited by our size anymore. How wonderful for you to see your family and not have to worry about being ashamed of how you look. Our families love us for who we are, but even though we know that in our hearts, our heads tell us that we are unlovable because of how we look, because we don't love ourselves. You're right the battle isn't easy, but for the first time I'm confident that we will win. Wishing you continued success, Patti

Happy Anniversary Robyn! Mary Beth