As part of writing this blog, I go in monthly to MicroNutra, the company who markets HealthSlim, the weight control capsule I take three times a day. When I go, they weigh me, take my measurements and take a picture of me. I have seen the initial picture they took, from January 2009. Recently I went on the web site to find the link for an interested friend and for the first time I saw the pictures of me from February and March. What a difference! I couldn’t stop clicking from one month to the next, and then back to the beginning to repeat the whole process.
The January picture I am not a fan of; I look chunky and shiny, good words to describe cookies, not so good to describe me. The February picture is also a little piece of a nightmare for me, but is visually improving. The March picture is a telling image of the progress I have made. I know I will throw away those moccasins that I wore in the photo as I never realized before how truly unattractive they are, but the rest of the photo just astounded me. In the first two pictures I am wearing black pants, and in March I am wearing khaki and I still look so much thinner! My butt is smaller, the bulging around the waist present in the first two months is nearly gone and even my skin tone looks healthier! I can’t wait to see the most recent pictures, from April and May. I suspect the April picture will look good because I was dressed up for a job interview that day, so I was uncharacteristically wearing makeup and high heels. The May picture I just took this week, and I feel pretty good about it. My hair was looking good, my complexion has been cooperating for the past few months and I have been feeling better overall, and I know that it shows.
A well deserved aspect to this diet is not just the physical changes taking place in my body such as weight loss, toning and a better complexion, but also that my self esteem and confidence levels have gone up. Things are still a struggle on the job front, but for the first time in a long time, I am feeling better about things. Like knowing that things aren’t working out quickly, but they will eventually work out. I feel that these changes could only have taken place in me at this time through this process. If I wasn’t working out, even if I got the job I wanted, would I feel good about it? Not where I was just a few months ago, fat, lonely, miserable… no one should ever have to feel that way, but living an unhealthy life style does encourage feelings of depression and looking fat and obsessing about it just continues the cycle of depression.
My reward for viewing the fabulous photos of me? No, I did not splurge on cake or cookies or a restaurant meal, I went to my favorite clothing store and bought myself a new pair of (sale) jeans and a couple new cute (sale) shirts to accentuate my cute new butt and smaller but firm chest. I try to stay away from shopping because I don’t have much money to spare, but I figured a sale splurge can’t hurt from time to time. The best part is that I feel fabulous and I am enjoying the wonderful weather here in Michigan, and truly happy to be alive and healthy here in the States.
