Part 3 - Life Is What You Make It

"Life Is What You Make It"

 Words that ring in my mind.  Words that my mother would say to me whenever I would complain about where my life was or the things that have happened to me.  Wisdom that I would foolishly not heed even though I could see the simple logic of it.  Even though Mom is gone now, I hope she knows that I finally get it.

 Let me start this week with my thanks and updates.  First, I would like to thank all of my friends and family for their outpouring of support again.  I would like to thank those that I have never met for their support as well.  We may not know each other but I consider you all friends.  This has been a great week for me but it has also had it's share of trials.  I can, with great joy, report that I weighed in this week at 578 lbs. a loss of 5 lbs. from last week and a total of 96 lbs. so far.  Check this out!

 I also have gone from a 74" waist to a 73" waist!  I am excited to watch as I slowly shrink.  I have spent the past week thinking about what I wanted to cover in this week's post.  I have decided that I would like to cover a few things so let's start here...

     This beautiful woman's name is Sally Jo Manzer but I just call her Mom.  As I have previously stated, Mom lost her battle with obesity this past February.  I can only try to put into words, for those that did not have the pleasure of knowing her, just how wonderful this woman was, but for those that did they were better people for it.  There is no person that I have ever loved more in my life and there is still a huge hole in my life that marks her absence.  I am putting it mildly by saying that my mother was a strong woman, but for all of her strength she was very fragile as well.  One of the greatest aspects about my mother was how she would protect those she loved fiercely. A trait that I would like to think I have inherited.  What I say next may not sit well with some that read this but this is my blog and these are my opinions.  As I have stated, Mom would always tell me "life is what you make it" and her life was made short by some of the poor coping methods she chose to use.  Sadly, I must admit that I have also inherited this trait as well.  I think that seeing my mother in her final days and the way she suffered, trapped in her own body was the missing piece that I needed to start me on my journey.  All knowledge has a price to be paid, as always my Mom would pay that price for me.  One last price so that I might learn.  I owe it to her to prove she did not go through all of that hell in vain.  I feel I also owe it to my loved ones so that they do not have to witness me in such a way.  I will always hold my mother in a special place in my heart but I will always remember all of her for both her good and bad lessons.  My life is not only what I make it but it will be what I remake it to be!
     Now I figured I would answer some of the questions that I have been asked over the past couple of weeks.  The most frequent question I received was about what kind of diet I was on or what was I eating to help me lose the weight?  I will answer it like this, and yes I know it sounds a bit corny but, I am not on a "diet" rather I have decided not to "Die Yet".  As simple as that sounds it works for me as a mantra each day.  I have decided to change my lifestyle and in the way I approach food.  Another piece of wisdom from my mother, that she could not seem to follow sadly, was to "eat to live not live to eat".  I associated food not only with comforting my pain but with celebration.  Every gathering or holiday was centered around food, that while delicious, was just not good for somebody with my addiction.  Changing my view of food has helped me to start to veer away from those bad habits.  I knew from experience that I would not be able to enforce my change of lifestyle alone.  I owe much of my success to my sister Becky and my Aunt Jackie.  My sister has been a phenomenal inspiration to me and a simple thank you to her for inviting me to my first meeting will never cover what it has meant to me.  My Aunt Jackie made it possible for me to start attending my meetings and I would not be where I am with out their support.  Now you may have noticed that I mentioned "my meetings".  Indeed I did.  I have been attending Weight Watchers meetings for a while now and I can honestly say that without the tools, structure, and support of this group I would not have been able to be successful.  This is not a paid advertisement by any means but anybody that needs a starting point in a battle with weight loss, weight watchers is it.  There is no judgement there, only support.  It is like a family that wants you to succeed in life!  The leaders are not just at a job, they truly care about you and have been through it all as well.  If you are interested you can find the info at www.weightwatchers.com .  My only other advice is to surround yourself with a multi-tiered support system.  I think I will cover that next week or perhaps my new "fun" exercise program that I am getting into.  Feel free to let me know if you have any topics you are interested in knowing about and I will continue to give you bits from my experiences.  Once again, thank you all for the support.  Your comments and questions continue to push me to succeed and are a constant encouragement.  I will leave you with this.  As a result of this blog, two of my dearest old friends have returned to my life to lend their support.  I have had it heavy on my heart for a long long time to find these two and after almost 15 years or so it was a true joy to speak to them and rekindle the friendships.  Remember, life is what you make it so make it better every day.  God bless you all.  To be continued...