Take it off | Week 50: Flicker

So I purposely waited until today to weigh in and write my post because I was having some medical issues last week. Basically what started out as a mild pain in my side quickly turned into dizziness, vomiting, pain in my side and back and a four day crap-fest any time I consumed anything. 

When I whined about it on Twitter thinking maybe I simply had a touch of food poisoning or the flu, someone suggested gallstones. After reading up on it I found that gallbladder issues are common after weight loss. Awesome. All my symptoms seem to match too.

It sucked a lot. But I also lost 4 pounds! Woo-hoo! Okay, not really. Because once I felt better and could actually keep things in my body longer than twenty minutes at a time, all but one came back. 

Womp. Womp.

That's why I waited to do an official weigh in, I knew it wouldn't be accurate on Monday. Also, I went to the doctor today and she wants me to have an ultrasound on my abdomen. She isn't ruling out gallstones just yet but said it might have been a stomach virus that is going around. I'm hoping for the latter. I'm saving all my anesthesia odds up for plastic surgery. ;) 

As disappointing as it was to 're-gain' 3lbs in just about 24 hours, I'm okay with it because something really, really great happened anyway. 

I hit the 80 pound milestone!!!

I know it might sound disingenuous to say I was delightfully surprised but I was! For some reason it wasn't really even on my mind that this milestone was right around the corner. I've been seeing the numbers on the scale but somehow their significance really wasn't registering. I've been so focused on trying to keep my colon from escaping my body that I sort of missed this goal when I weighed in over the weekend.

As a reward, my body let me keep my colon. Yay me! 

• • • • •

So if you've made it this far, I have some fun photos to share. These pants are size 22. These are the pants that I wore before I started Medifast. 

What you aren't seeing in the photo is the hair tie that I had to use to extend the button. The 22's didn't actually fit but I was unwilling to go up to the next size. Currently I wear 12's that are too large but size 10 is still too snug on me.

• • • • •

I was looking for things that weigh 80lbs and found this pizza: 

That's a lot of pizza.

• • • • •

photo by Stephanie Glover

I really like this photo that was taken at the Diet Bet weigh in. This is me talking to Tony Luke Jr about Medifast, my weight loss story and 'moment' that I posted about last week. As I spoke to him I noticed that people around me stopped talking and they were actually listening to what I had to say.

More and more I love to share my story - and not on a narcissistic-look-at-meeee! way. But I like sharing it because its one of the few times in my life I feel like I have something to offer people that isn't superficial - like celebrity trivia or a smart ass comment. 

Once upon a time I felt so alone in my struggle with obesity. No one knew how I felt. No one had walked in my shoes. But like so many other things, I was wrong about this. For all the loneliness we feel in our body and mind, our prison, we are actually part of a huge community in limbo. Maybe we are just waiting for someone to speak up. Waiting for someone to be painfully honest about their struggle so that we can find the courage to face ours. Waiting for someone else to help us carry our burden until we can carry it on our own.  I don't know. But what I do know is that when I talk to people, when I tell them my story, I see a light go off. I see a flicker of hope in their face that they can do this too. It reminds me that I can keep doing this as long as I can help someone else light the way.

Month One: -16 lbs
Month Two: -5 lbs
Month Three: -6 lbs
Month Four: -6 lbs
Month Five: -6 lbs
Month Six: -8.5 lbs

Month Seven: -7.5 lbs

Month Eight: -5 lbs

Month Nine: -2 lbs

Month Ten: -5 lbs

Month Eleven: -6 lbs
Month Twelve: -4 lbs
Week forty nine: -2
Week fifty: -1

Total: 80 lbs gone forever! Current weight: 161 lbs Distance from goal: 21 lbs!!

If you're interested in trying Medifast, I have a great deal for you! Use the code TURNIP56 to get $50 off an order of $275. Check out Medifast's new customer savings program! 

*FTC Disclosure: Medifast provides their products for my personal use for free. I am not paid or compensated in any other way for mentioning their products. All thoughts written here are mine. I love complaining so I would tell you if I didn't like something in the program. :)

~*Stephanie at A Grande Life*~ 
~*Jenni at Jenni From the Blog*~

~*Stephanie at Goober Monkey*~

~*Alison at O My Family*~

~*Jessica at The Unemployed Mom*~

~*Mariana at The Domestic Buzz*~