XL

Xl-----XL-----XL-----XL I never thought I would put these 2 letter together again. It has been an X-tra L-ong time since I have used those 2 letters together to signify a size. For years I had to put a number and a letter together to signify a size. Numbers such as 3, 4 and 5 ---3x, 4x and 5x. Those were the sizes I found on my shirts and my pants. People have asked me “What size pants are you in, 18, 20, etc.?” I never knew because for so long I didn’t wear sizes like that. I wore pants with a waist size 2x, 3x, 4x, 44, 46, 48, 50... I think the largest size was 50, but now I am down to 44 and 42. I am told my pants are too big and I need to get smaller ones. Well, I am not financially ready to get smaller, so I hitch my belt up another notch and hope for the best. I have even given mom permission to put my pants in the dryer now instead of hang drying them. They need to shrink a little if they will. I never thought there would come a day I would say, “Let’s try and shrink these a little.” I went to the store and saw a Christmas/winter shirt I really liked. It only came in the largest size of XL. I thought, that isn’t going to fit. I haven’t worn an XL since I was an X-tra young person (20+ years ago.) Guess what? To my surprise the XL fit. I got another shirt from the Pound Plunge this week. I had to order it 11 weeks ago. I thought, “I’ll get an XL and hope I will fit into it at some point in the future.” Well, the future is already here!!! I can actually once again wear an XL. Wow! I realize some shirts are still fitting better in a 1X because of the cut, but even that is better than what I wore for years.

It appears things are looking up in my world. A goal I had hoped to reach in the future has arrived. I guess you might say I am “Back to the Future”. I still have a ways to go, but I am taking it a pound at a time now instead of frustrated with not losing 5-10 pounds at a time. I had hoped to lose 10 pounds a month, but that hasn’t happened. I have had to reassess and have come to realize a realistic goal is 4-5 pounds a month. I’ve lost 107 pounds in this journey. 28 of them in 2009. I have 45 more to go. It took me 16 months to lose that 107. I realistically think it will take me at least 2 years to lose the next 45 --- one pound at a time. All is well as long as I am trying to live a healthy lifestyle and being honest with myself about that life style. I have to remember that lifestyle doesn’t just include what I eat. It includes what I do (exercise) and how I look at life as a whole. God help me along this journey!!

So until I shrink out of the XL and into the L, I will be joyful in the accomplishments. Who knows, I may never get to the “L” on the label, but it sure feels good to look at it and see the “XL”. God is X-tra L-oving!

Yesterday is experience.

Tomorrow is hope.

Today is getting from one to the other as best we can.

~John M Henry~