Week 24 - Reinventing Myself

Good news – I was really happy to make it through several Thanksgiving celebration meal events without gaining any weight.  I had a well thought out plan and the plan worked.

It has been a really odd thing to re-experience my ‘thin’ body.  It is really quite something to get used to hearing myself called, ‘Skinny’ in a good way.  When people are talking about me as ‘the little guy’ I often don’t catch that they’re talking about me – “Hunh….  Who, me?”  It’s kind of funny.  On the other hand, it doesn’t always feel good when people make comments.  Simple compliments are always nice like, “my you’ve lost weight, you look good.”  What is frustrating is comments like, “You should stop losing weight – you look too thin!”  Or when my weight loss is all a person can talk about – I’m about more than just weight, you know. 

Now is a wonderful chance to reinvent my persona – who I am.  Despite the significant costs of buying new clothes, it is quite fun to shop for clothes and look at stuff that I would never have been caught dead wearing six months ago – or that wouldn’t fit me.  I get to be that energetic, active, fun guy that likes sports and activity.  I get to consider goals and pursuits that were totally ‘off limits’ to me before – it’s pretty cool.  It’s also very different as I go about replacing ID photos, like work, driver’s licence, etc.  It’s kind of like reaffirming the ‘new me.’  I find that I keep peeking in mirrors and shop windows to try and figure out ‘who is this new me?’

Today’s group session was about body image and the importance on maintaining a positive, healthy body image.  I really like my new body, for the most part.  I’ve been lucky to not have much loose skin, but I do have some saggy skin on my lower abdomen and upper thighs.  I’m trying not to be too depressed about it and hoping that some of these strategies will help:

• Continue drinking lots of water – apparently skin likes water
• Moisturize the skin
• Weekly sea salt bath – draws out toxins
• Eat soy protein like edamame beans, soy milk, tofu - to help generate more collagen in the skin
• Wait – apparently the skin often recovers given some more time

In the meanwhile, I’ll get to focus on building a positive self-image and focus on the how much healthier I am and how much more activity I can maintain.

On a side note - I have tried to be pretty low key about my weight loss adventure – other than this blog, but I have found it interesting how many people have come to me to talk about my weight loss program.  Some people have heard of the KGH program and want to know more about it – either for themselves or a loved one.  Others have not heard about the program (and don’t really care), but they’re interested in what I’ve done.  I mentioned elsewhere that I’ve been surprised by the doctors and nurse practitioners that don’t know about the program, and want to find out more information.  One of the reasons for starting this blog was to share my journey with others that might draw inspiration, information, or motivation from my ‘story’, so it is rewarding to be able to help others.