Weight Loss...So What?

It took me 1.5 years to lose about 65 lbs, but no one really noticed but my husband and my Momma. That fact is when you are morbidly obese, 65 lbs is a drop in the bucket. On an average person, they would have gone from a size 14 to a size 2! As for me...still wearing the same clothes, they just fit a little looser and it seems as though I've gotten a little flabbier. Not fat. Skin! If I'm walking and stop suddenly, it seems like my skin is about 5 seconds behind me...and that ain't cute! Only now am I starting to feel the need for that good old fashioned girdles your Mother use to wear. I just refuse to wear any such garment in the mist of a 90 degree plus heatwave. In the words of Beyonce, "I don't think your ready for this jelly."...so don't look.

My weight loss has been rather underwhelming. Since I've not worked for almost a year, it's not like I can excitedly go purchase a new wardrobe. I haven't really changed what I eat. If anything, I just simply and suddenly lost my appetite for food. When you lose your appetite, cooking is just no fun anymore and there's nothing that really appeals to me. Right now I'm between chicken nuggets and granola bars. They're the only two things that I want to eat...or make myself eat. That's really strange for me to do that because in the summer, I'm ravenous for fresh fruits and vegetables...and I usually become a bit of a "salad-aholic", however, this summer I can't seem to recall eating one salad...yet. Sad. Very sad. The only healthy thing I seem to have established is drinking lots of water. I drink so much water, I should have grown gills by now. In fact, I drink so much water, I've noticed that I've had to buy a lot more toilet paper...or maybe that's because I've been home and not working. (Side note: Do you realize how much toilet paper you save by going to work? It's amazing!)

Back to the weight loss topic. I started walking my dogs in the winter and since then, I've twisted one ankle, scraped my left knee (TWICE!) and broken my fibula. Yep...call me "clumsy"! I don't know if my equilibrium is off or if my big dog is secretly tripping me. Nonetheless, my recent fracture has had me "benched" for a while and I've only been able to get motivated to walk once this week. It's pure laziness because I wake up early enough to walk, I just can't seem to get my body out of the bed, to put on clothes, lasso the dogs and go out in that humidity. :::Heavy sigh::: Now that I've confessed, I guess I'll get out and try walking again tomorrow. I guess I need to drop about 50 more pounds, so people will start noticing. Ha!

Love and Marriage

Love and marriage may be two different words, however, one can not successfully exist without the other. If one does not know what unconditional love is, one should not marry. There is a huge different between, "I love my Prada bag." and "I love you." If you hesitate for a moment, when someone asks you the question, "Which one do you love more?", you probably are not ready to marry.

My husband was reared with conditional love. He felt he was loved only if he completed a task or act. In the early days of our marriage, I remember showing him that I loved him, no matter if we argued or not. Just because we argue, doesn't mean I'm going to punish him by not preparing dinner or washing his clothes, however, this is what he was accustomed to.

I think many marriages start off with "conditional love". The fiance may think, "If he keeps treating me with wine, roses and song, I'm definitely going to marry him." I'm here to tell you, your marriage has got to have enough stamina and UNconditional love to last beyond the wine bottle going dry, the roses dying and the songs ceasing. Unconditional love is loving the person when TV dinners have taken the place of fine dining, a bouquet of flowers from the floral shop are replaced with a single flower appropriated from the neighbors garden (lol) and the only songs that are sung come from the shower.

In a wedding, your vows should be more important than the decoration. Really? Yes, really! The decor is going to be reused or thrown out, however, your vows are your promise to one another for the REST OF YOUR LIVES. Oh yeah...you know that garble-dee-goop the minister says? The stuff that no one usually pays attention to because they are so enamored by the bride and groom? Your minister/reverend/pastor/priest probably mentioned God in there somewhere. Did you pay attention? Do you know what he/she meant by that? Somewhere in there, you were also vowing a vow to God, and the witnesses were all the people you invited to the wedding. So, you made a vow or promise to each other and God to love. Out of all the other words utilized in wedding vows, I would venture to say, love is probably used in 99% of them.

Thankfully, divorces are on a decline. My hope is that it is due to people being wiser about their reasons for marrying and finding marriage counselling when needed, but unconditional love is the key to a successful marriage.