The word is FAB...

I can't describe how great it feels to put on clothes that haven't fit for a while. Today is Friday, not my usual weigh-in day, but I have a Romance Writers of America meeting tomorrow. I have plans to eat breakfast with my pals beforehand, so I weighed in today with my daughter Zoe and her friend, Sarah.


I was down 3.8 pounds, a lot for me, and both girls were down too. Afterwards we celebrated with healthy grilled fish tacos and pedicures.


I've achieved my second official goal, my first being the first 5 pounds and my second being 5% of my body weight. The next official goal, of course, will be the 10% goal, followed closely after that by the HUGE, ALL IMPORTANT move from being over 200 pounds to under. Of course, the scales at Weight Watchers are all electronic, but the scale at my doctor's office is not, and the mere fact that they will no longer have to take the time to pull that counterweight over from the 150 mark to the 200 will make my heart sing.


My heart hasn't done a lot of singing over the past year; turning fifty was hard for me. I finally had to choose: was I going to give up or not? I certainly could have rested on my exquisitely large laurels and said it doesn't matter anymore if I look good, dress well, have my hair done, keep my house nice. I certainly couldn't care a whole lot less about all those things.


But in the end, vanity is a many-splendored thing.


In the end, I can't be seen giving up by my family and my children. It's my job to be either a role model or an object lesson. Today I choose role model.


I don't want to show up to life in stretchy pants anymore.

Three letter word...starts with F

I can't believe I've decided to blog about my weight loss journey when I have not one, not two, but three blogs elsewhere, a Facebook, a Twitter account, and a career as a romance writer waiting for me while I pen these words. However, I believe my journey as an activist for my health and an advocate for my body is no less important than the work I do to put my children through college. Indeed, it's possible that if I don't undertake the work I'm doing as an active member of Weight Watchers at this point all the other things I do: housewifery, motherhood, breadwinner, and teller of tales would be -- at best -- unproductive or at worst, cut short.


I'm a fifty-one years old mother-of-four teens, wife, and writer. I'm nearly seventy pounds overweight. It's time to change the channel from my regularly scheduled program of fast food and junk food -- sacks of potato chips and heaping mounds of chocolate conveniently stored next to my overburdened office chair and look for something with a little more substance.


Recently I attended a convention for writers and readers of romance. We come in all different shapes and sizes, of course we do. It just happened that many of my friends, those of us who live in our heads professionally, don't necessarily take excellent care of our physical bodies. We spend an awful lot of time at our desks. Many of us have hectic day jobs. We are parents and work hard to care for children or we have aging parents of our own who need us.


What I saw plainly is that many of us spend our free time -- our 'me' time -- writing the stories we love, and maybe we don't choose to use that microscopically narrow band of time to exercise or plan elegant low fat, high value meals.


Maybe we eat while we're working, and we aren't aware of portions. Maybe we don't consider the nutritional value or lack thereof in that bag of convenient Doritos while we're rushing to beat a deadline.


For me this led to a shocking weight gain, some (so far) minor health problems, and the necessity of putting clothing I really enjoyed wearing into the closet so I could go out and buy a wardrobe full of clothing I don't like.


I've been in the program two weeks and lost 6.8 pounds. I'll be talking about my journey here. I have a plan of action to for that three letter word you probably thought was 'fat', and I'll tell you my secret: I may be carrying around a large and cumbersome burden of extra 'fat' but I can tell you... the word that best suits me is FAB.


Today I am doing. I'm in the Weight Watcher's honeymoon phase. The program and I are in love. Tomorrow? Who knows?


What I do know is I've had success before, I will have success again, and the rest is just tedious things that no one in their right mind would want to see me write about.


What is your story?