Family Response to the "New Me"....

....Or I should say the "new us" as both hubby and I have both lost weight since they last saw us (me the 150 lbs or so and him about 75 pounds). Thank you Karyn for the reminder about including this on my blog. They weren't completely surprised as we had sent out photo Christmas cards a couple of weeks before Christmas but were still shocked to see us in person as the card photo was pretty closeup so no one had the "full effect" until we arrived. Gary's mom talked about how tiny I was and how proud they were of what I have accomplished. I wish they'd made a bigger deal out of what my dear husband has done too but I made sure to point it out when no one else did! Granted he isn't at his goal weight yet but he has worked hard and I am so proud of him and want others to recognize his success. His sister was amazed too but unfortunately I think that made her feel worse. I say this because she has a lot of health problems that have contributed to her gaining at least everything I lost, probably more. I will continue to pray for her that the drs. figure things out so she can start to lose some weight soon. Hubby's other brothers haven't seen either of us since several months before we started losing weight, other than the photo card. We had a dinner for them the day after we arrived and the first thing one of the girlfriends said to me was 'OH my gosh...I have to ask, did you do it on your own or have the surgery??" I was so proud to be able to say it was all done with diet and exercise! I saw her again the day before we headed home and she showed me her "before" pic...before being before she gained weight. And she was talking about starting a diet too. While I certainly hope and pray that no one sees my weight loss and thinks badly about themselves, I am thrilled if I can be a small part of someone's motivation to get healthier! I couldn't help but feel so proud to go to family functions while up north and be the smallest one in the room (other than the kids), or to easily sit down in my husband's lap when all the chairs in the room were taken. I think that is always going to be one of my favorite things about having lost weight!