Week 22, 207 lbs.

My Husband and me on Halloween - Our Annual Pirate Show!

What a week!

The week started with a funeral out of town, then there was the annual pirate show my husband and I put on each year at Halloween and the week ended with a trip to the Texas Renaissance Faire after a six year absence.

This week I encountered some of the most difficult challenges I've had since the early days of starting Ideal Protein.

A couple of times I had to go off diet.  Being a guest in someone's home (more than once) and spending two days at a renaissance faire presents a lot of hard food choices.  The fact that I deviated from the program showed in my fat percentage, it went up a little, but I am proud of the fact that I was able to drop two pounds in spite of this week's chaos. 

One of the most frustrating experiences this week was dealing with a friend who was hyper-critical of the diet I'm on (even though my success is obvious) and worked really hard to derail my progress. I won't go into great detail about the incident, what was said or done - I'm not even sure she did it consciously.  The experience left me hurt and angry... and right now I am focusing on shrugging it off.  Staying angry at someone I love because they just "don't get it" doesn't do either of us any good.

What's important for ME right now is to stick to a program I know is right for ME!  It doesn't bother me if someone thinks another diet or another approach to health is better than what I am doing - More power to them! 

I know what is working for ME - another's uneducated, unkind opinion is just noise and says more about where they are than it does about me.

I have shed more than 80 lbs. from my frame.  I feel better than I've felt in years.  My knees don't hurt anymore, I have a general sense of well-being and I'm more productive than ever before.  There's no arguing with those results. 

The picture above was taken on Halloween night as my husband and I were acting all piratey for the neighborhood trick-or-treaters.  After this picture was taken I kept staring at it.  My husband asked me what I was doing and I said, "I can't believe that's me!"  He answered with "You look great!"

I wore the pirate bodice when I was a lot heavier. I tried to locate photos from "back then" but had no luck finding any.  The bodice has a lot of adjustable laces that I gapped open at the front and the back to get it on my growing body.  Last Halloween I had to find another costume because I was finally too big to wear my favorite bodice so imagine my delight when I was not only able to wear the bodice again this year, but lace it up completely in the front and back!!  I have NEVER been able to lace that thing up all the way!  Never!

I wore that bodice to faire one of the days we were there, too, and my husband said, "I've always had a pretty wife to take to faire, but this is the first time I've had a hot wife at my side."  or something to that effect.  I could have flown after that remark.

I ran into old friends at faire, some didn't recognize me at first.  One friend (Who follows this blog - Hi Pat!)  took a good look at me and said, "I don't think I've ever seen you this small and went on to tell me how good I looked."  It felt so good to reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in years and even better when they told me how happy or good I looked. 

 I got a lot of compliments on my costumes from passers by, which has never, ever happened.  To illustrate the difference in how I look now and how I looked the last time I went to faire, here are two pictures:

Me, about 2006 - the last year I went to
The Texas Renaissance Faire.  I probably
Weighed over 300 lbs. at this time.

A photo taken by my friend, Tony Goodman, this past
Saturday at the Texas Renaissance Faire.
No wonder Folks didn't recognize me!!

It's a dramatic difference!!  The only thing that looks the same is the little crown thingy I am wearing on my head!!

I love - LOVE - this diet!