And the change has begun....

Though my creation is in process I am starting to see the masterpiece take shape.  This has been a very exciting week with several triumphs.

It started with noticing how baggy my clothes were getting.  So on Saturday I tried on a lot of clothes and found I could purge myself of almost half my wardrobe.  The other half were just clothes I never got rid of as I gained weight in hopes that I would lose weight and fit into them.  Many of these smaller clothes still had tags on them and had never been worn.  I spent half of the day cleaning and organizing my closets, drawers, and getting clothes ready to sell on Craigslist and take to consignment.  To be honest in the beginning it was really hard.  I had some clothes that I loved and did not want to get rid of "just in case".  When you've been overweight most of your life and you've lost and gained a thousand times before, you learn to hold on to the fat clothes because you know you'll be needing them again.  So I NEVER got rid of clothes.  I have clothes that are size 14 to size 28 in my wardrobe.  But I knew this time was different.  I pushed my fear aside and made preparations to rid myself of all the clothes that are too large now. 

The next small triumph came in realizing all my pants were too large.  When I went grocery shopping I decided to buy 2 pairs of pants.  I don't want to buy more because I know it will be just a short time before those are too large as well.  I went from a size 28 pant to a size 22 and these 22's are already loose.

On Tuesday I had a lovely surprise.  My dear friend Katy and her 3 wonderful boys who I took care of most of their lives brought me a gorgeous bouquet for my birthday.  Not only did they send the flowers but they arrived in person and we were able to take some pictures together. The 2 oldest boys, Jacob and Jonathan are embarking on a new phase of their lives; college.  It was so wonderful to have them show appreciation to me.  I am very blessed to have this lovely family in my life!  I wish only the best for the boys!

On Wednesday I saw my physical therapist.  It was very exciting to have her measure me and with just the measurements she had taken I had lost over 38 inches.  Because she hadn't measured the bust and the neck I know that amount is a lot higher.  7 inches alone were on my waist!  The title of my blog is very appropriate... I am shrinking!

I had a fantastic experience the other day.  We have a sliding door that has a pet door inserted into it.  Since the pet door takes almost half of the opening it's always been that I was too fat to fit through this door.  For me to get to the deck I had to go through the back door in the kitchen.  Well one of my daycare boys needed his nose wiped and I decided to just see.  I turned sideways and voila!  I was through.  When Ron came home I was so excited I told him I had a magic trick to show him.  I told him to close his eyes.  When he did, I slid through the door and said, "Now open them".  He was so cute, he was like, "How did you do that"?  What an amazing confirmation that all this hard work was really paying off!

Friday is my 48th birthday.  Most every other year my birthday week was spent eating because I'd receive the "birthday coupons" from my favorite restaurants for "buy one get one free", or big money off my dinner.  We'd spend the entire week eating at all the restaurants and using the savings.  Well this year, I just looked at them and smiled.  I don't have the desire to eat at these restaurants no matter how good the deal is.  Another small triumph indeed!  Instead of eating out we are going to take the trailer to the beach and camp for the weekend.  We will try to take some hikes and enjoy the ocean.  The weather is incredible and it will make for a wonderful weekend.

Here is this week's picture.  I have lost more since this was taken but I'll save that for next week's blog.  The picture was taken on September 23rd, 2012 and I weigh-in at 264 pounds. The suit I'm wearing was one of those finds in the back of my closet.  I bought it about 4 years ago and it still had the tags on it but I was never able to wear it, in fact not even close.  I received tons of compliments about the outfit and how good I looked at church.  I even had 2 people tell me it was almost too big already.  Yay!

For those of you who read my blog weekly and those of you who give me encouragement through words, I want to thank you so much.  You are helping me more than you will ever realize!  I love you all!!!!