It has been a long time since I blogged for the Patch and have now decided it is time to get out of my way and share some facts, fun and struggles that I have encountered in the last 22 months.
For those of you that don't know me, I am the previous owner of in Powder Springs. On a regular basis, I see people that don't recognize me. It is unclear to me why they can't remember me because I am the same person I was and have been for quite a number of years.
I have lived in Powder Springs for 18 years and feel like I know half of the inhabitants of the city, so everyone looks familiar to me. I have either been their Tupperware Lady for most of the 90's, been an active member in my HOA, networking groups or have had the pleasure of having met them as a customer of my bookstore.
The fact is I feel like I have looked the same and acted the same since I moved here. I have always been heavy and my vision out into the world has not changed. What has apparently changed for everyone else is that I have dropped 130+lbs and now I am unrecognizable to many who know me.
While the change was large, I am the same person. Mentally, nothing has changed. Don't get me wrong, changes are great and important but sometimes I really am confused how this physical change could make relationships with others and even ourselves so different.
Let me start from the beginning. Sometime in early 2010, my husband and I saw the end result of our adult children's successful weight loss and decided it was time for us to join the bandwagon and be better examples for them. We figured we had tried everything or so it seemed. We did one more round of the dieting polka, exchanging one weight loss program for another, time after time and losing and gaining the same 25-60 lbs for the last 20 years, or so it seemed.
In May, I discovered a great company that was similar to a diet my son had been on but not incredibly expensive like his. It also was not medically supervised and no meetings, which were deterrents for us both. The plan was to lose as much as we could in time for my daughter's upcoming wedding nuptials in October.
June 2010, we started our diet. Yes, I say diet because it was just another one of the many diets we started and we treated it the same as the rest. Our resolve was stronger this time and what do you know, our first week, I already lost my first 10 lbs!
Figuring it was just water weight, while excited, I still was skeptical but hopeful I would be picture presentable by the wedding. Weeks went by and each week I averaged about 3lbs down and my husband, man that he is, was down about 5 each week. Funny how you can be so happy for someone and resent them at the same time.
Happiness always prevailed and by the wedding, we had lost over 100 lbs between us! Looking back now, I still was huge in the pictures while my husband, Steven, looked great.
Yup, I said it. Even though I shed an enormous amount of weight for any person in 16 weeks, I can only see how large I still was. Down from a 3X (barely) to a size 18, I still felt just as big.
To be continued.......
And we have remained friends via Facebook. She is one of the shrinking Smelsers and whether she knows it, my subconscious inspiration as I simply strive for better fitness. Never give up! Never give up! Dawn H. Lutz FL (also a Patch blogger)