Congrats jen_bd6 on reaching 50 Pound Summit!!!

I woke up this morning in the cool pre-dawn darkness of a hotel room more than 200 miles from everything that I love in the world. My legs are still a bit stiff and tired after last night’s 10pm “oh crap, I have a RED number showing on MFP and I’m not going to bed with that in place” 50 minute walk.

Despite all that, it is as though the sun is shining, birds are singing, a low-fat no-sugar-added, yet tasty apple pie is cooling on the kitchen window sill, and fresh laundry is hanging and drying in the late-September sunshine. Why?

When I awoke this morning and was still coming to my senses, I reached down and sleepily grabbed my ... (yeah, I know what you THOUGHT I was going to say)... iPod. I quickly scrolled through the lunchtime musings of my Australian, New Zealand, and European friends, and the early morning comments of my Canadian and American friends. And then I saw it. The absolute highlight of everything else that had scrolled onto and off of my screen thus far today... “jen_bd6 - I've OFFICIALLY reached my 50 pound weight loss milestone.... I was at 49.8 for what seemed like forever!!”

Fifty pounds. Holy crap. Five 10-pound sacks of potatoes. A mountainous pile of two hundred sticks of butter. A giant sack of dog food sitting on a pallet at PetsMart. More than six average newborn babies. Anyone who does not recognize the magnitude of the accomplishment of losing 50 pounds has either never seen 50 pounds of anything, or tried to carry 50 pounds of anything while living and working a very active lifestyle.

On this very special morning, it is tempting to continue to talk about what you’ve lost. But I don’t want to. Instead, I want to take note of four things that you’ve GAINED over the past 50 pounds.

#1 - Health and stamina. Think back to the day you started this journey. I am going to guess that your “dear diary” for the day might very well have included the words, tired, sluggish, and slow. Now, your exercise entries on MFP are the virtual embodiment of fitness and activity. Thirty minutes walks outside! Moving and shaking it! Arc trainer! Circuit trainer! Dancing! Would the jen_bd6 who first started her journey on here have wanted to do some or all of these things? Yes. Would she be able to? Not likely. By losing your 50 pounds, you’ve gained health, fitness, vitality and fun.

#2 - Self-respect. Take a quick poll of 100 horizontally challenged people. Ask them how many would want to lose 50 pounds. The number would probably be fairly high. Now wait 20 years and ask how many of those people were actually ABLE to lose 50 pounds, safely, actively, and healthily. You are in a very small minority, m’lady. Why? Because losing 50 pounds the hard way– gutting it out one good eating choice at a time, one smart exercise choice at a time– is tough stuff. Not for the faint of heart. There are a lot of people reading this who would love to say the following in their MFP profile: “Obstacles are nothing to me... I will move on and get past anything... I can and I will.... just watch me!" But unlike most of them, you’ve EARNED the right to say it. Which brings me to the third thing that you’ve gained...

#3 - Admiration. Losing weight is tough business. Sort of like mountain climbing. When scaling a steep cliff, you can safely and successfully take 10,000 steps and scale your way 7/8 of the way up, only to make one misstep and find yourself plummeting to the ground below. You don’t realize this, but a lot of men and women have been watching as you’ve dragged yourself up 50 Pound Mountain and now stand proudly at its summit. You’ve allowed us to see what you’ve eaten and how active you’ve been on good days and bad days. On healthy days and sick days. On happy days and angry or frustrated days. You’ve made insanely great food choices and a few fun, but very necessary ones. However, regardless of how big or small your Green Number is each day, regardless of how aggravating your day has been, you have stuck to your new lifestyle and stayed stuck, insistently and defiantly to the side of Weight Loss Mountain. And now you find yourself on one of its major peaks, enjoying the breath-taking view from 50 Pound Summit. And for all of that, you’ve earned our undying admiration.

#4 - Love and friendship. Look back at that very small percentage of people who have actually lost 50 pounds. Now ask yourself how many of them have done it while maintaining a sense of humor, sense of dedication, sense of dignity and real, genuine caring for their fellow journeyers that you have? There are a lot of us out here who KNOW that what you’ve accomplished over the past 50 pounds has been difficult... demanding... frustrating... challenging. And yet, despite all of that, by the example you have set, and the grace and good humor with which you’ve done it, you’ve earned the love and friendship of dozens and dozens– perhaps hundreds– of people all over the world. Think back to the movie, “Forest Gump.” There is a scene where Forest’s platoon is under heavy artillery fire, and he has a chance to run and save himself. And yet, despite the stress, danger and effort, he keeps running back to carry his injured friends to safety. You have done the same thing on here. It is hard enough to successfully manage one’s own fight against fat. You have done so day after day, week after week, month after month, not only by yourself or for yourself, but carrying many of us along with you. Challenging us. Entertaining us. Encouraging us. Inspiring us. And because of that, many of the pounds that we have lost should, symbolically, be added to the 50 that you’ve lost. And for that, you’ve earned much love and friendship on here.

And so, on this early-Friday morning in late-September of 2012, we, your MFP friends, stand with you and salute you for reaching this hard fought and special milestone. Take a few minutes today. Sit back and think about everything you’ve gained while you’ve lost your 50 pounds. And enjoy the view and rarified air from 50 Pound Summit. There aren’t a whole lot of people who can say they’ve stood where you’re standing right now, and gotten here with the style, humor and dedication that you’ve shared with us over the many months of your journey to fitness and health. Congratulation!!!