About three years ago I lost 50+ pounds, I’m proud of me. I also learned that I was inspirational to others in that same way others had been inspirational to me.
Changing yourself, your identity, behaviors, habits and your relationship to food is not easy, it requires self-awareness, discipline, goals and a strong support network to keep you above water. A lot of the support network isn’t family or friends, it is the everyday people you meet. It is my experience that people are very supportive and encouraging of each other when it comes to losing weight. We are fragile creatures with a short shelf life and that person who is changing their very ‘self’ is aware of this, and that person commending them is as well. It’s a very human bond.
On July 12th 2016 my sister was 292 pounds and had a surgical procedure, the ‘sleeve’ performed on her. Today, on the one year anniversary she is 162 pounds, 130 pounds lost in one year.
I am proud of her as my sister, but also, and perhaps more so, as a human being.
Now as she finds her optimal weight (she thinks maybe 130) she is inspiring to others that she encounters, sharing herself, letting them, whoever they are, know it can be done. Maybe that person will lose weight and they will inspire others. And so on, and so on…