A 20 pound Turkey

Yesterday, we were at my cousin's house, celebrating his daughter's eighth birthday. Nichole is my goddaughter, and we only get to see her once or twice a year. So infrequent, really, that we probably don't have as close of a connection as we should, given our special relationship. Each time we get together, we always talk about making more time. They only live about 20 minutes from us. There's no excuse, minus our respective busy lives.

One of the things that my cousin kept saying yesterday was how much thinner I looked. Earlier in the year, when I was about 10 pounds down, we saw each other at his brother's twin's baptisms (got that?). No one really noticed the weight loss. It feels good when people mention the effort you make to be healthier. I commented that last week, when Cyndi's mom's friends (got THAT?) came to visit us from Denmark, I cooked a 20 pound turkey. Before I unwrapped the bird from the plastic, I held it up. It was a representation of the weight I lost. A growing child. A car tire. A large fish. My old dog, Leinie (before she got fat). A WHOLE Turkey. I've taken off 3-4 inches from my waist (depending on the pants), and, as I learned today at Wade's Clothing, in Zanesville, OH, two inches from my neck (from a 17 1/2 to a 15 1/2).

When people ask me how I lost the weight, I'm almost embarrassed to tell them about ChaLean Extreme. I've always been against any kind of "diet" or fad (i.e., Atkins, South Beach, Blood Type Diet, etc.). My issue with those plans are that they are hard to maintain. I've known people who went on these, lost a lot of weight, and then gained it back with extra. I did the Body for Life program years ago, and I didn't really feel embarrassed about it. But when people hear about ChaLean Extreme, they have the reaction I did at first: skepticism. And the thing with ChaLean Extreme was it was a starting point for us. We knew the things it suggested in relation to the diet, but we never took the time to really put them into practice. Our pastor says that every week at church. He gives his homily and then ends it by reminding us to "keep it, and put it into practice." We never did that before with our diet. Now we do. And I'm glad for it. I feel healthier, I look thinner, and once I slowly update my wardrobe, I'll look better too.