My Inspirations

I've added a column to the left of my postings with a list of my inspirations. I may add to the list occasionally, but these are the five people who will most likely keep me motivated to move forward.

First, my grandson Hayden - for obvious reasons! He is the delight of my heart and a reason to want to get healthy and stay healthy. I remember my mother doing the same when both my sons were born - she started getting more exercise and stopped smoking. It's amazing what one little guy can do to get you thinking about how you need to refocus your priorities!

Then there are two close friends who are weight loss queens! Susan, who started on Weight Watchers three years ago and also began running for exercise, is about half of herself now and running marathons! She never has told me exactly how much she lost, but the before and after photos are astonishing. Unfortunately I don't have them to post here. She swears by WW and will be my "sponsor" for lack of a better word - someone to whine to, call on, get tips from, and generally encourage me. Although she's about 15 years younger than me, she still gets the prize for discipline and generally getting her head in the right place regarding food issues. And we all know that for most women, weight issues are less about wanting to overeat just for the sake of eating, and more likely multiple emotional issues that gets acted out with food.

Rosalee is another study in determination and amazing success. I saw Rosalee for the first time in a year this past weekend. She lives in Maine now but comes to Nashville occasionally to visit her daughter and son-in-law and other family members. Two and a half years ago Rosalee joined a 12-step food addicts program. Not Overeaters Anonymous, but along the same lines. She quickly started losing weight (although it probably didn't feel quick to her!) and when I saw her just six months into this program, she was already looking great. But I was totally unprepared for how she looked when I saw her this past weekend! She actually looked better than she did when she was 30 years old. And while I won't tell her age, let's just say she's more than a few years older than me! She looked absolutely stunning - and again I'm thinking - if she can do this, so can I!

I wish I had before and after photos of these two women to show everyone - assuming they would let me! I need to have their photos posted right in front of me all the time to keep me going. What's funny, is that with both of these women, I never really saw them as "overweight" in all these years I've known them. I think women have a much different way of looking at themselves and others then men do. These women weren't overweight in my eyes, they were "zaftig" - the Yiddish word for pleasingly plump. I had always known them this way, and loved them for who they were, and so whether they weighed more than they ideally should didn't matter to me. I think a lot of my friends and relatives are like that as well. They love me unconditionally and accept me unconditionally and so my weight isn't a huge issue for them. But now that I've seen both Susan and Rosalee post weight loss, I can see what a huge undertaking it had to have been for them both. So...if they can do it, I can do it.

My friends Debbi and Julia are my inspirations for reasons other than having lost weight. Quite the contrary, the LAST thing these two women need to do is lose weight! Both women are at different stages of fending off cancer. Both have gotten right up to the door to check out and have pulled back. Both are in precarious positions. But both have such an amazing spirit and fortitude that you can't help but be inspired by them. They approach their cancer and its treatment completely differently but they both have achieved a serenity and grace that makes them earthbound angels in my opinion. When I get too full of my own self-pity or whining, I just have to think of Debbi and Julia and what they have been living through to get my head back on straight.