Victory!

After having been obese for most of my adult life, I dropped 103 lbs in six months. (I did this under close medical supervision, in a program my doctor referred me to. Do not try this at home. ;-) )

I give MFP mad props for being the tool at the heart of this effort. Thanks so, so much for creating this site and iApp. I don't know at all that I could have done it without MFP.

Here are some very nice things that I've done/experienced since losing weight.

* I travel internationally for work a lot. Airplane seats seem much bigger now. :-)

* I got questioned by immigration officials both overseas and here in the US because I don't look like my picture.

* A week ago, when I hit my goal weight, I filled five garbage bags with a dozen years' worth of clothes, and donated them. Replaced them with some nice, reasonably stylish clothes.

* 51" waist-->36". Clothes shopping is no longer an ordeal (both practical and psychological)

* In addition to the hospital-administered weight-loss program, I rediscovered cycling, which I loved as a teen and 20-something. I've gotten back into it with a passion, and it probably doubled my weight-loss efficiency. I've joined a local cycling club, and am up to 30-, 35-mile rides with them. (I started out six months ago finding that 5 miles was plenty of exercise for me.) Also, my workplace is big into riding--lots of the guys keep bikes in their offices. So now we have yet one more thing to talk about/do together.

* Speaking of work, everybody's been unbelievably kind and supportive. I suspect, too, that I've earned an extra measure of respect in their eyes. (not that I ever felt disrespected before)

* Some of this may be my projecting my own increased self-esteem onto the people around me. It's been enormously self-empowering

* My cardiovascular condition is so dramatically improved--I worked fairly hard over a pretty compressed period of time--that I have energy to do all kinds of stuff that I'd pretty much gotten used to not being able to do. (Something as simple as runnng up stairs.) It's been such a fast change that I still have to remind myself sometimes that I can do everything everyone else can--if even more so, because of my newly developed strength and endurance.

* No longer living with the constant fear that today is the day I may keel over from a heart attack or a stroke or get diagnosed with diabetes. (It's nice, oddly enough, being able to have a headache without worrying that the stroke has finally arrived.)

Anyway, again, thanks MFP and MFP community for all your support. The next step is maintenance, which is proving much trickier than weight loss. :-O

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