As I got dressed in the gym this morning, standing and putting on my jeans I started to think about things I do now that I simply take for granted that I could NEVER have done at 424 pounds.  First and foremost was putting on my jeans.  Yes, we all put our pants on one leg at a time, but some of us had to sit down to do it, others had to lean against something, but now I have the ability to balance and slip them on while standing, one leg at a time.  What seems a simple, every day occurrence was a milestone on my weight loss journey.  Now, it is just something I do without a second thought.

Next is climbing up on a step stool or a ladder.  Previously I would NEVER attempt this, fearing the stool or ladder would not hold my weight.  Nothing stops me now.  I’ve been known to climb shelves in the supermarket to reach something on a top shelf that has been pushed to the back.  Fearless, not quite; but confident in my ability to move easily.

Hula hoops, trampolines and other childlike instruments of play are not beyond my trying….notice, my abilities may be less than adequate, but at 424 pounds I NEVER would have tried, and in those attempts are my confidence in my new size.

Speaking of size, when all of my family is at my home for a big dinner and my table has been fully extended there is only a small area to “squeeze through” to get to the back side of the table where I always sit.  Squeeze is nothing I did at all, let alone with ease.  Now I do it at my dinner table, in movie theaters, in crowded hallways and stores.  I am finally learning where my place in space really is…and it is no longer WAYYYY OUT THERE!  I can judge my size against the space available with reasonable accuracy.

Bending down is another one.  I used to have to sit on the second step of my staircase and contort my legs to somehow reach my arms to put on socks and shoes.  Nope, no need to do that any longer either.

I walk through the aisle on an airplane with my body fully erect and proud, no longer hiding with my head down as I have to scoot sideways to get where I’m going.  And, once I have arrived I can lift my carry-on into the overhead with ease, or if it is too high I just jump up on the seat and finish the job.  The seat- I fit in it and the belt closes with lots left over.  No longer whispering to the flight attendant as I board…please get me a seat belt extender. 

Towels, oh those tiny towels at the gym they think are bath size…They are still small and I can still wrap them around me so I no longer have to bring my own beach size towel to fit my beached size body.

Robes in hotels.  They are lovely and fun to wrap myself in after a bath or shower, with my hair wrapped in a towel and just sit and relax for a few minutes.  Not so before, nobody hung a 5XL robe in the closet of any hotel I knew.

To keep this short and sweet, let’s go back to the gym where I started this conversation.  I am at the gym 5 days per week.  It is my routine whether I am at home or traveling.  Get up, coffee and then gym time.  That too is nothing I could or would even consider back almost 9 years ago at 424 pounds.  Now I just do it, I don’t think about it which means I take it for granted.

These are all little, but VERY significant milestones I have achieved in my journey.  When you add them all up, as well as the many other non scale victories I have not noted here what they say to me is the following:

I AM LIVING MY LIFE!