Things I never though I would do or hear myself say since I have lost weight:

**I can't do that because  it may interfere with my exercising!!!
When I went to get my latest tattoo (as a reward to myself for all my hard work thus far) I was sitting in the tattoo parlor contemplating on what part of my body to get it, one thought was on the top of my foot, then I went to thinking oh hell no I cant get it there because it will hinder my exercising.  I wouldn’t be able to exercise for at least a week or two while the tattoo was healing, because I wouldn’t have been able to wear tennis shoes, so I nixed that spot idea right away.  It just made me laugh because if that had been a year and a half or so ago the word exercise wouldn’t have even crossed my lips, that word wasn’t in my vocabulary.

**I love my smaller boobs!!
I have always been bigger than “normal” in the boob area, now they have gotten considerable smaller for the first time in my life.  I had always thought I loved my big oll bobbies, and hated small ones, in the past I couldn’t imagine my life with them, I thought they were who I was.  Now I love love love the new smaller version of them.  I learned something about myself and my big boobs through this process.  For those of you who know me you know I use to wear low cut shirts that showed off a lot of my boobs. What I learned was I wasn’t doing this purposely, well yes I was  so to speak, I was the one picking out my clothing, but every time I put on a low cut shirt I wasn’t saying to myself oh make sure your boobs are hanging out so everyone can see them.  I have come to the conclusion that I think what was going on subconsciously in my head, is I knew I was fat and thought no one would look at me because I was fat and ugly, so if my boobs were hanging out I got more looks.  Sad I know but I really didn’t realize this at the time, but I see it now, because now I have realized I don’t feel I have to have my boob showing all the time.  Now I knew I wasn’t “ugly” before when I was fat, but I also knew men didn’t check me out either, except for when the girls were showing, see most men don’t care what the rest of the body looks like if they get to see some boob exposure.  Sometimes I will wear a shirt with some boob showing now, because sometimes it just happens, but not like I use to.  So what I am saying is I love my new smaller boobs, and I learned my boobs are not who I am!!!!

**I have had to admit I am not “big boned” LOL!!! 
I use to say this in the past  “oh I am just big boned, I will always look bigger no matter how much I weigh”  Well I have learned I am NOT big boned and I was fat plain and simple.

**Tofu isn’t to bad!!!
It actually is good when mixed with other things like with ground turkey burger, or use it in spinach or ranch dip. I have lots of good recipes of anyone is interested.

**I am a much more confident person!!
I now feel comfortable to walk with my head high and make eye contact with people.  I noticed once I started losing weight I started to walk with much confidence and with my head up and would actually make eye contact with people and smile, not just walk with my head down looking at the ground like there was something so interesting down there.  What I thought back then is I was just really shy that's why I did that. What I have learned is I was so self conscious about myself I didn’t want to look at anyone, because I was embarrassed about myself. This is really sad to me that I felt I needed to be like this, but that is how society treats fat people, they make you feel bad about yourself, I always felt that people were judging me, thinking they were looking at me saying to themselves how could you let yourself get so big, or your so lazy, or your just gross looking.  Now I have much more internal confidence in myself.

**I am a strong person!!!!
I have learned and proven to myself I am a much stronger person than I ever thought I was.  Maybe that is my motivating factor right now, because I have learned I CAN DO THIS.  I have always thought of myself as a week person, I would give up easily if something was to hard for me to do, I use to have the type of personality that I wouldn’t  push myself to try harder if something was to hard.  If I found resistance at all, I was done, I wasn’t a go getter type, there for I looked at myself as a weak person.  Why the hell would I want to push myself to do something hard especially if it wasn’t going to be enjoyable.  I guess what I didn’t know is sometimes you have to do hard work to get to an enjoyable ending, it may not be easy along the road but well worth it in the end!  I guess if you never push yourself you would never know this.  What I have learned also is stepping outside the box is a good thing, yes it is easier to just do what you know how to do, that is easy and comfortable for you, but if you don’t ever step outside the box you will never know what is there for you. I have proven to myself I am a stronger person than I ever thought I was and that feels better than any amount of weight I have lost, and is more enjoyable then the next doughnut I want to put in my mouth!!!!
(Let me make something clear about this last statement, when I say I thought I was a week person, lots of people that know me always say your not week, because of the issues I deal with on a daily basis because of having a son with special needs.  I agree with that statement I know I am not a weak person in that aspect, but the way I look at having a son with special needs is a much different type of strength I have.  To me it isn’t a choice, I am a mom and you do what you have to do for your kids no matter how hard it is at times, that's what moms do!!!  So I look at being a strong mom for my kids and being strong or week in other aspects of my life as two different areas strengths.) 
There are a lot of things that have changed in my life in the last 16 months, it has been a very eye opening experience for me, I have really learned a lot about myself.

**Side note:  I have increased my walking to 4 miles the 5 days a week it takes me about 52 minutes, I still dread getting my ass out of bed each morning and I surly don’t have much of a a spring to my step as I trek around my blocks that early in the morning, but I am doing it and that what counts!!