Lordy, you’ve come a long way, and your pictures — you look great. And from your writing, you SOUND great too, over the archives I can feel a better attitude.

“My Life as a Thin Person

People like Lisa Marie Sohr, who lose 100 pounds or more with stomach surgery, find that with their new bodies often come new friends, new spouses, new lives. But happiness is not a foregone conclusion.”

http://nymag.com/nymetro/health/features/1868/index.html

I read your blog regularly, and I hate to see you agonizing over too much money spent on outsized clothes, you saving up for Lasik, etc. etc. I want you to be able to enjoy your twenties now that you are thin. I mean, you don’t even have any rewards planned with respect to this huge accomplishment! Why not get your hair colored or get Japanese straightening or something.

I used to be a lot like you — I hated spending money on myself. but you need to treat yourself right.

Like, I kind of get sense you have put the whole “guy” thing on mental hiatus for years and years. I mean, I want you to ask for lasik/contacts for Christmas and start embracing your femininity and sexiness. I sense you have unresolved issues with that. I sense you have some catching up to do in terms of your sexuality and stuff that the weight might have stunted.

In a sense, you will have to learn to stop defining yourself by your weight, or by your loss of it.

I think you should try joining some local activity to meet “new” people who never knew you when you were heavy. Like, some kind of book club, church group, volunteering group, etc. etc. Just explore that whole side of life –living in your new body–a little more.

I think you need to explore the “new you” and give her a chance to spread her wings.

Yes, I know I don’t know you, but if you were a fictional character in a book I was reading, I’d root for you to do the above. :)

This is Thanksgiving week and I need to tell you how pleased I am that my daughter sent me the URL to this blog. Thank you PQ for your self assurance, confidence, perseverance, and perspective.

As I prepare for this week I will use three skills that PQ has honed and shared in this blog:

(1) I will plan ahead and KNOW what my investment (in food calories) might reasonably be. Just as PQ researched beer so she knew what the trade offs would be; I am researching the foods that I will find most enjoyable . . . turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberries, salad, etc. And I will set for myself a reasonable limit of enjoyment, based on the research

(2) I will NOT let what other people say or do negatively impact my eating decisions. No matter how much my mother, son, Aunt Tillie, or Uncle Fred, try to make MY eating into THEIR business, I will maintain a smile and my equilibrium – these are MY choices. I am practicing the smile and phrase, “Oh thank you, but I think not now.” and “Certainly I enjoy _______(whatever food is being pushed at me) but I am passing on it for now.” AND if I Have to. . . “Please appreciate my decision and support me in this.”

(3) I will anticipate that I may lapse – perhaps an extra serving of mashed potatoes, or a pecan praline – but I will NOT allow a lapse to become a re-lapse or a collapse. . . .PastaQueen has told us all that we do NOT need to be perfect dieters. . . and there is life to be enjoyed. . .

Thanks for the blog, PQ – and please everyone – enjoy the holiday!