My first follower and a few bags of flour

Oh my gosh.  I have a follower.  This is very exciting!  My first one!  Thank you!

I started this blog so that I would have a record of my journey, but I'm glad that I can share it with others.  This would be a long, lonely road if I had to go it alone.  For everyone out there who is looking for a weight loss road trip companion, hope in the van... we're hitting the open road.

I'm leaving deconstructed bread crumbs along my road to 150.  These crumbs are not intended to lead me back to my origin, but to mark my passage along this route.  And these are not ordinary deconstructed bread crumbs; they are bags of flour.  Are you with me?  A bag of flour weighs five pounds.  A bag of rice weighs one pound.  A bag of potatoes might weigh ten pounds.  Instead of thinking of nebulous "pounds lost," I prefer to think in terms of items I have hoisted around.  I can imagine how much a can of beans weighs (almost a pound).  I know that a gallon of water feels a bit more than eight pounds.  These items are real.  

When I lose a pound, I picture a can of beans plonking on the side of the road.  When I lose five pounds, I visualize a bag of flour falling from my body.  The mental image of a big poof of white dust as the bag hits the road at 70 mph is definitely a bonus.  

I am losing more than pounds disguised as grocery items.  I am losing fear and shame.  I am losing low self-esteem and embarrassment.  I am losing that moment when I realize that I am barely going to fit into the restaurant booth.  I am losing the feeling of horror when I find out that I can't sit in the cheap plastic chair at the outside table at the cafe.  I am losing the desire to stay home instead of joining friends simply because I'm not sure of the arrangements and don't know if I will, literally, fit in. With every bag of flour that hits the highway, I am transforming myself into a whole new person.