“Just a minute!” My friend stopped the flow of the state board meeting. “I want to hear about Paula’s weight loss.”

Talk about cool. She made me feel like a million bucks. She truly celebrated ME–the strides I’d made, the new body I was sporting, the success I’d had. Friends like Robbie Iobst are invaluable on the journey to health and weight loss. They remind you that you ARE moving forward, that someone sees it, and that it is worth the work. My friend Kathleen Kovach is another cheerleader. When we are in a setting with someone who hasn’t seen me in a while, she often grabs the tail of my blouse, holds it around my shrinking middle, and says, “LOOK at this! She’s disappearing before our eyes!”

My family members are great encouragers, too. I like it when they hug me and talk about how different it feels, how small I am in their arms. My daughter bought me a little red dress charm for my bracelet. She told me whenever I reached the weight where I felt content  that I could add it to my special memories charm bracelet. She’s also the one who told me to get rid of anything too big. That has been so freeing! My hubby hadn’t complained at a single purchase of my new, smaller clothes–in fact, his eyes glow. He tells me constantly that I am different.

I think it is really important to be seen in the weight loss journey. ~February 9, 2013

Real Time Update:

My 84-year-old neighbor, Bernice, told me yesterday, “You look GOOD skinny.” Gotta love that.

What About You?

Do you feel seen? Do you have cheerleaders? Maybe you need to NOTICE being noticed. Do what I did in the above journal entry. Write down some experiences where someone has been your cheerleader. Celebrate being seen!

ps . . . Happy birthday to Stephen Moldenhauer who turns 17 today! Where did the time go???

pps BENew, the healthy weight loss product I’ve been using since October 24th, is doing a promo for customers. Any customer who refers three friends who join them on the products gets his or her product FREE!

Tagged: benew, cheerleaders, encouragment, weight loss