Lumpy Girl Claire
Huzzah! 20 pounds lost!

Oh, glorious day!

After 4 months of dieting, 100 some miles of walking, too many salads and half a coconut cake, I did it!

I lost 20 Pounds! 20 pounds!

It's pretty amazing when I look in the mirror and don't see the Lumpy Girl anymore. I don't see the Skinny Girl yet either, but this other girl looks pretty darn good.

She's wearing clothes a size or two or three (can you believe it?!) smaller than what she used to wear. She has a confidence in her appearance that she hasn't had in awhile. And she has finally accepted her diet as a way of life, rather than a short-term cure. Who knew that would happen?

There will still be challenges. I'm already running out of daylight before I get time to do my exercise. That means I'm not walking as much as I used to. And what am I going to do when the (pardon me for saying this) snow comes? I haven't figured that out yet.

There is also the annoying problem that the less you weigh, the less you get to eat if you want to lose weight. That is just so wrong. Where's my reward for being thinner? Why isn't there a magic weight where you achieve "cheeseburger immunity"?

And despite this wonderful, twenty-pound accomplishment and my determination to get healthy, I had bad news from my doctor. It seems that although my weight was going down, my blood pressure was going up.

So now I'm taking medicine that (so far) is making me feel sick, for an illness for which I was having no symptoms. I understand that's the danger with this disease. If you don't get checked, you just don't know you have it. The good news is that cardiovascular disease can often be prevented or, as in my case, managed.

The American Heart Association has a section just for women called that is loaded with information on high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases. Check it out so that you don't end up where I am.

If you are going to be a statistic, make it for something fun like winning a NASCAR race, or becoming the next Victoria's Secret underwear model (this seems to be a theme for me…).

I go back in about a month to see if this medication is doing the trick. I've been tempted to check myself on one of those machines they have at the pharmacy or the grocery, but I've been too embarrassed.

What if someone sees me? What if my arm is too fat for the cuff? What if I get stuck in there? I guess I'll wait and let my doctor tell me.

As always, when there is something in my life I can't change, I change something I can. That usually means my hair.

I've been trying to grow out my bangs and you know that's never pretty. I can't have bad health and bad hair at the same time so I headed off to my favorite salon. I love my new 'do. It's very Deborah Harry.

Now I'm searching for my Blondie - Greatest Hits cassette to crank up in my car. Can you have high blood pressure with a "Heart of Glass"?

I guess even my face is getting thinner because my stylist made the comment that my face is very "angular" and she didn't want to accentuate that too much with the cut. She said I had cheekbones! Me! This diet thing is really working!

I know that I wouldn't have had such overwhelming success if it hadn't been for the encouragement of all of you who have been following me on this journey.

Thanks for laughing and losing along with me, for sharing my pain and my triumphs, and for the genuine caring that comes across in the messages you send me. It's been very gratifying to know that I'm not alone.

Cleveland Women Rock!

Love Always,
Claire