It's time

Well, I've been thinking about it for years, talking about it for almost as long, but I have finally named it.  I am wearing a fat suit.  The me inside is thinner, healthier and more beautiful.  But this damn fat suit keeps me wearing "fat clothes" and keeps the world from seeing the real me.

This may not seem like much to most of the world, but the naming of this revelation is huge for me.  I've always felt it and tried to describe it, but words never quite did my situation justice.  And then one day, chatting with a friend, it came to me... The fat suit. 

The fat suit is a shell, covering my true interior, hiding the precious me inside.  It crept up on me and enveloped me and I did nothing to stop it.  Ok, I admit it, I am lazy and undisciplined - I've known this forever.  But what I didn't realize was the effect that my laziness and lack of discipline would have on my appearance.  I'm sick of looking in the mirror and peering deeply to see if perhaps some semblance of the old me is still there... yup, it is.  But it is hidden so far inside this awful shell that it takes some time to see it.

In my head, I'm still the same.  I'm a size 10, longish hair, fairly decent features (although my nose is a bit too big for my taste) and intense eyes.  To the outside world, I'm a size 22 with a square face, more chins than I care to count and those same intense eyes.  My nose is a little less prominant with a bigger face, but it's still pretty good sized.  Oh, and those damn wrinkles, ugh!  They have been my companions for many moons now and will continue to be - but them, I can live with - the fat suit, no longer!

It has taken me years to come to this point.  Years of pining, and wishing and imagining that I'm my old self again.  None of which have done anything to get rid of the fat suit surrounding me.  Sigh.

The only thing that there is left to do is work at getting rid of this thing.  Jesus, I wish I could just unzip it and step out of it - but that ain't gonna happen.  I want to go back to wearing fantastic clothes and turning heads as I walk confidently down the street - without Sciatica and Plantar Faschiaitis as my constant companions.  I want to go back to walking in a store, picking something up off the rack and looking at it thinking how wonderful it will look on me - not "will it cover my stomach rolls enough?"

And so, with my desire for change finally stronger than my comfort in the status quo, I'm ready to begin.  I have friends who will support me and guide me on my way.  I'm fully aware of the changes that I will need to make.  I will have to start logging what I eat, exercizing regularly and eating healthier foods.  It sounds innocuous enough  - but to me, well, you might as well be asking me to scale Mount Kilamonjaro. Naked. In the winter. Carrying Orson Wells on my back.

But, it's time.  And so, as I prepare to begin a different way of life, I am bidding adieu to many of my favorite foods - oh, not permenantly, but at least the joy of guiltlessly eating them.  Tuesday, it was KFC.  Tonight, oh, joy! Bacon Pizza. Next will have to be chicken wings. Yes, definitely chicken wings... Finally, Chinese and Five guys (oh my how those guys can cook).  Oh, don't worry  Five guys -- I will occasionally partake, but for me it won't be without consequence.  I will endure extra workouts, less at another meal, there are ways...   But for now, I'm enjoying these treats with all of the exuberance of a child who has discovered their first hot fudge sunday.

I've chosen Friday the 13th as the first day of my new journey - appropriate, no?  And so with a week to go, I prepare: finding sneakers, looking up and preparing food logger, ridding the house of treats, and yes, savoring every last morsel of guilt free pleasure that I have deemed as a few of my favorite things.  It's a mixture of pleasure and pain, you know.  I'm so excited that I will finally be on the road to shedding the fat suit, and so sad and scared about what it's going to take to get to that point.

As I've said, I have friends to help me along the path, and they are a consolation and a joy and a help.  But the reality is - this has got to come from me.  It's all me - no one can choose what I put in my mouth, no one can get me out of bed to work out before everybody else gets up, and no one, not anyone can take away my determination.