This morning I woke up to an astonishing 186.6 pounds.   I knew I was thinner ... you all know what I  am talking about... I lay in bed this moring and ran my hands down my body, across my belly, down the sides of my hips and I felt the bones of me .... my hips, my ribs, my self -  my true being is finally coming out and I welcomed her.  I have not felt her for years.  When I got on the scale I was so happy, not just about the weight, but about the personal achievement.  To have come down from 234 (that was before I had the decimal point scale - so to be truthful, it was likely closer to 235) to 186.6 .... well I am so proud and amazed at my own determination.   I am now officially just overweight, my BMI is 27.5 ..... if it is over 30 you are obese.   I am officially no longer obese.  Whew.  Wow.  Thank God. 

What is more significant is the emotional weight loss.  You know what I mean.   I have shed hundreds of pounds of emotional baggage over this journey.  I have discovered a lot about myself, that I take on too much, too much of other's problems as if they were my own - friends and family - way too many family problems without sharing the weight with siblings, too much of everything.   I say yes all the time, I cannot say no to anyone, I always feel I have to find the time to help no matter what.  As a result, I do too much, resulting in a feeling that I am neglectiing my own family, that I should be doing more around the house, the downstairs room needs painting, my garden needs me .... and on and on and on.  It never ends.

I have finally realized that I am a pretty good person.  I do a whole lot for lots of people, my family included.   Yes, I'd love to do more, but I am one person.  I do all that I can and that is plenty.   I could not have realized all this without all of you.  The 17 Day Diet is of course,  a major part of making me feel better, healthier and stronger but this, the community here is the rest of the equation.  You all have been my sounding board, my source of advice and support, my well of inspiration in areas so far and beyone just the diet thing.  Everyone here has come together to form a unique community, one where we feel safe to share some of the most intimate parts of our lives, with great comfort that we are in a safe place.  This is truly a special experience and I cannot imagine that when they first booked Dr. Moreno and his great diet book that it would grow to this amazing community.  

I hope this grows beyond just the diet.... we all have shared so much about so many different things, topics that may have started out of talking about the diet ... but they are rooted in so much more and through sharing and empathy, we are helping one another far and beyond the diet to heal ourselves in a much deeper way.  We are loving one another, as human beings should.   That is so beautiful.  I am so proud to be a part of this. 

I love blogging here and sometimes I want to talk about things outside of weight loss but I am not sure if you all want to hear it.  This seems to have started as a 17DD area, but I think maybe it people are starting to see it is not just about that, it is The Doctor's blog site and we can talk about anything here.  

I have a lot to talk about outside of this diet.  Lots I would like to share and I think we maybe should think about expanding this conversation to everything else that is in our lives and driving us... to eat... to drink .... to be unhealthy, to be anything that is in excess that makes us ill - even if it us just an excess of sadness, of inactivity, of apathy of   indescision and insecurity.  I have a funny feeling that no matter what the question - somewhere out her, someone among us, will have an answer that the person asking the question may not have ever considered before.  That is huge.  That is community.     

There is a bigger conversation awaiting all of us.  We need to get to the bare bones.

Love, Lisa