Monday, January 15, 2007

When you have a good support system

It seems one very important factor in a successful weight lose process is a good support system. Mine is called Joe... Skinny Joe, my best friend and husband.

See, Joe can eat everything his heart desires (the bugger ;-))... well, almost everything, since he has to keep an eye on his Triglycerides. He was skinny almost all his life, and he functions well regarding food. He eats when he's hungry, he doesn't binge on food, and somehow his body knows exactly what it needs... and Joe listens and follows.

One very important thing (that allowed us to start a relationship) is that Joe fell in love with me when I was heavy. For him, I was always sexy, desirable and acceptable. When I was at my heaviest (213 lbs), he tenderly asked me if I think it was wise to carry so much weight around, for health reasons. So he's the type of guy that always accepts me as I am at the moment, and no matter how heavy I am - always goes after me
;-).

When I had this epiphany few months back, Joe suggested to renew our gym membership. Not that he felt like going back to the gym, mind you (he's very active at work)... he thought that if he'd start doing it with me, later I'll stick to it by myself and continue without him. I thought about it, and came up with the idea that maybe we should look for a cheap treadmill for the house, so I won't be depending on anything but my will to get off the couch, go down to the basement and exercise.

When I discussed it with him, he said: "It's an expensive buy, sweetie... and knowing you, you always get tremendously excited when you have a new idea, and later get bored and leave the new toy aside. Will it happen again this time? Can we afford to spend so much money on something that won't be used later on? Can I trust you to use it without despair?".

He was right, of course, not to be sure he should follow my new "crazy" idea, because he knows me all too well. And considering the fact we live on a (sometimes tight) budget, his argument and questions were legit.

I answered that I thought I was in a stage were I could commit myself to a totally new lifestyle and behavior, and asked him to trust me just this once, to have confidence in my seriousness in this matter. He said he would, and right away went online and researched. Few days later we went to the stores, and found the treadmill we now own.

Another way I asked Joe to support my efforts is to help me keep our place "clean of enemies". When we shop, he buys some no-no stuff for himself, mostly of the sweet kind that he likes so much. He can allow himself the sweet stuff from time to time, and I can't ask him to give it up for me, because it's not fair. So, whenever there's a no-no food in the house, Joe finds a place to hide it from me, so I won't have the temptation to munch on it when I'm weakened. It's a bit of a hassle for him, but he does it anyway... for me.

He's quite a guy, my guy. He knows one very basic thing every guy should know: If you make your woman feel good, you'll feel even better! hehe.... yeap, it's a wild truth, but oh so true *s*. And you know what? When we get ready for bed, or a shower, or when we get up in the morning, and he notices my new found curves... he caresses my lines gently... and says: "Look at that... isn't that beautiful?" And when I look into his eyes, what I see is not that he desires me now more because I'm losing weight...

... what I see in his eyes is... that he's so proud of me, my success in making myself healthier and happier... and yes, ok... the fact that I'm his *s*.

Lorien @ 3:30 pm MT

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