Today was the big day, the first weigh-in.  I was as nervous as I was on my wedding day.  Well, not quite. 

The results? 

I lost 10 pounds in the two weeks since our initial weigh-in!  (Weighed in at 216 pounds.) Another lady lost 8 pounds -- which amounted to a greater percentage loss of her body weight, since she is smaller than me to begin with.  So we both sort of won! 

And the Club's total loss was 41 lbs, spread over 8 of us.  That's terrific, I think; an average of 5.1 lbs per person.  I've seen some pretty heroic efforts from this group.  One lady sprained her ankle, but did she let that stop her?  NOOOOOO.  She found exercises that she COULD do, and before long she was doing crazy stuff like walking 3 miles to the grocery store and 6 miles to church...

My own life has changed significantly.  No longer do I go days at a time without leaving the house.  No longer do I eat to comfort myself, or to reward myself (okay, okay -- there were these 5 sweet, fat, juicy grapes I ate today to celebrate a successful weigh-in!).   No longer do I feel that my circumstances prevent me from exercising.  But the strangest thing of all is that I have found myself becoming more moderate with everything.  Where I used to drink a whole pot of coffee, I now limit myself to 1 cup.  Where I used to swig diet sodas like nobody's business, I limit myself to 2 a day (preferably one, for a treat).  Could it be that you CAN teach old dogs new tricks?  Can a severely obese 43 year old learn to get a grip and enact a permanent lifestyle change that will support a healthy weight?

Because of all my failures in the past, I find myself wanting to believe, but at the same time, listening for the sound of that other shoe dropping...