My Trip to the Mall

Hello folks, I have really enjoyed going to the mall since my weight loss. I enjoy walking around and going into stores that I would never have imagined going into. But today I made some discoveries that were rather unexpected and had almost nothing to do with actually shopping. One is embarassing and the other is just WOW. Upon entering the mall today I fell. Yup, feet out from under me and fell on the ground. I felt the side of my shoe slide against the wet floor and down I went. Well, my son turned around and ran back and another man came over and asked "Ma'am, are you okay?" Well, let me tell you, I was up before I even got down. I was amazed at my ability to recover and get up off of the ground, very gracefully I might add. I made a comment about being totally embarrassed and laughed as I went on my way again. I can say that YES I was embarrassed, falling is not a fun thing to do. But I processed it quickly and realized that I would have been beyond mortified to absolutely humiliated had I fallen at 100 pounds heavier, like I was this time last year. I have two bad knees and I shocked that they didn't prevent me from getting up. My son was even shocked. He said I looked like a stunt woman!!! My other WOW kind of moment was when waiting for my son outside of a store. There was a ledge of sorts about a foot off the ground that ran along the wall of H&M. Well I looked at it for a moment, pondering, and then I squatted, yes squatted with THESE knees, and sat down on this ledge, which was about 6 inches wide. I sat down there for a good 10 minutes before my son came. I didn't slide off, I didn't get cramped and I was actually comfortable!!! I think we tend to underestimate our abilities as the weight comes off. Things like putting on shoes and socks, crossing our legs, not being out of breath after getting dressed. These things are HUGE and really mile markers of our ability to regain control of our lives. I am happy for this board for allowing me to share with all of you. Why don't we all share some of these little things that seem so small but that we couldn't have begun to do when we were heavier. Donna

Hi Donna, I think that is a great idea! I'm very happy for your Wow moment. My little thing has to do with work. I am a Maintenance Planner for a Major Airline. So I work around these huge aircraft hangars. Needless to say, walking from one hangar to the next took a lot of planning on my part. Sometimes we have meetings in other hangars then where I work. A round trip between hangars is up to a mile. So when ever a meeting was schedule, I would always tell my boss I had other errands to run and would meet him there. Obviously, there were no other errands. I was either driving over or walking but taking resting breaks in the bathrooms. But today no more! I can walk to any hangar and have no troubles at all. And I still have 80 more pounds to lose Ann 306/211/130 Non-op

Hi Donna, I have had plenty of experiences with embarassing falls. I'm glad that you didn't hurt yourself. One thing that I've noticed is that when I was heavy, I always slipped my tennis shoes on and off without untying the strings. My tennis shoes always stayed perfectly tied and never came undone. I had still been doing that, and I decided that I should start tying and untying my shoes. The bad thing about that is that now they keep coming untied. Lynette

These are all such motivational stories! I'm so happy for all of you gals and can't wait to add a story of my own! I just looked at pictures yesterday that my ex-husband had taken at his house at Christmas time (we have a 7 year old daughter so we go to his house at Christmas too). I asked him to please cut me out of all of those pictures! ugh! Then, I said to myself "this will be my LAST Christmas this fat!" I hope and pray I can stick to it! Kandy

Hi Kandy, You will! You can do it Ann 306/211/130 Non-op