A Single Digit.

A single digit has a way of making me so very happy. It's the biggest of single digits....a 9. The size of my new pair of jeans.

A short four years ago, I was 239 pounds. Granted, this was after having a 10-pound baby, whom I gained nearly 70 pounds for during pregnancy (darned diabetes). Yeah, she was worth it! But my self confidence took a nose dive.

When my friend Rhonda clued me in to Weight Watchers, I was hooked. Weight started melting off of me. For nearly three years, I busted my butt in the kitchen to lose weight. I never stepped foot in the gym. I lost almost 100 pounds, and went from a size 22 to a size 12.

That is where I got stuck. Now, I was happy as a clam in size 12, even a few 10s. Mediums took over my closet in place of the XLs. What wasn't to be happy about. But despite continuing to follow my WW regimen, no more weight would budge off of me. Until I started working out.

For over a year, I've been hitting the gym 3-4 times a week, kickboxing 2-3 times a week (I'm certifying to be an instructor next week), and working my tail off. I haven't so much melted off any more weight. But I've turned pounds into lean muscle, and my body is a shape that I never dreamed it would be. Especially at MY age (31, eh-hem).

In the last two weeks, I've purchased a 2-piece swimming suit, and a single digit pair of jeans. And while a size 9 makes me smile, it's really another single digit that matters.

1.

And that one is ME. It's what happens when you let yourself come to the surface. When you decide that you need to focus time on YOU so that you can better care for everyone else. My job on this earth is to care for people - my children, my folks, my grandma. And for YEARS, I've done that without taking care of me. Now I see how much better I can do EVERYTHING when I feel good. So whether it's a 1 or a 9 that I see, I feel blessed. I feel good. I feel...ME.