What I Did Next To Lose 26 Pounds

At a Party, Someone Told Me “Owwwww, You Looked Better Then…’’

THIS IS A TRUE STORY.

Ian was celebrating his 50th birthday! His wife, Rose, a close friend, told us to wear RED for the occasion.It was winter so this meant sweaters or anything ‘thick’ or ‘layered’ will be ok. I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s easier to ‘hide’ in bulky clothes. On the day of the party I had on a black skirt, thick black stockings, black ankle boots, and a red turtle neck sweater.

We (me and my husband) arrived at the party and Ian was wearing something gray. Huh? He found it ‘corny’ to have a color theme and simply wanted to wear what he wanted to wear. Period. Dagger eyes from my husband… sorry I’m straying from my story.

Anyway, hubby joins the other men and I sit with a group of other ladies. Greetings all around. Some are new faces, some I have had more contact with, others I’ve only met once or twice before.

One of the women I’ve met only ONCE years ago was Eliza. All was ok but I noticed that she wasn’t recognizing me so much. Fair enough, all those years in between and I did gain weight. I wasn’t in denial about it. (At least, I didn’t think I was.)

But then I see her eyes get a bit big… Aha! Recollection!

“Sheila! Oh my, it’s been years. And you’ve……… changed.”
“Oh yeah, hubby and I’ve been away for a while, got a bit ‘big’. Hehe”

And I WILL NEVER FORGET what she said next.

“Owwww, you looked better then.”

This was not a gentle sentence said in confidence. And to be fair, it wasn’t a loud ‘announcement’ either. It was a simple statement made in front of a group.

I was mortally embarrassed. And I WAS P*SSED too!

For the life of me, I can’t remember exactly what I said next but I know it was something flippant like “oh, better lose some weight then, hahaha”

I wish I had a better comeback. I wish I called her out on the inappropriate comment. And I wish it didn’t affect me. But it did.

I avoided Eliza the rest of the evening. Once home – and I truly hate admitting this – I cried.

It hurt because, well, what can I say… it was true. I DID look better then. I FELT better then too. But what do I do? I’ve tried diets before and I just couldn’t really lose weight no matter how hard I tried, not long-term anyway.

And you know what…
I understand that you should lose weight for yourself.
That you should not let others define you or affect you.
That you should lose weight for HEALTH reasons not just for vanity.

But here’s the simple freaking truth.

Being confronted that way DID affect me.
It DID embarrass me.
And I DID want to lose weight for physical (vain) reasons.

(By the way, I’m saying this NOT because whoever’s reading this should feel the same. It’s for the others like me who ALREADY feel like this. To you: you’re not alone; and I think it’s normal to feel this way!)

Anyway, I couldn’t get the “Owwww, you looked better then” statement out of my mind for a few days. It was burning in me.

I wanted to know how much “I’ve let go” so I did something scary. I stepped on a weighting scale. I’ve been avoiding it so when I saw I gained 22 pounds… well, I just stared at it.

By the way, I’ve never been ‘skinny’. Even in my teens I was the one ‘verging on chubbiness’. So that additional 22 pounds was not something anyone would call from an ‘ideal weight’ scenario.

So what to do?!?
I thought about it and the only thing I liked ‘fitness wise’ was a bit of dancing. So, on a Tuesday morning I went to a local Zumba tryout lesson (free). The instructor that day was Hilde vd Berg.

I wish I can say I stayed for the entire hour of the session but I slipped out after 15 minutes. I couldn’t catch my breath!

I was checking out the lesson schedules, looking at the fitness equipment they had, watching people, drinking glass after glass of water…

When Hilde finished the session she came out and saw me still looking ‘wiped out’ (her words!). Long story short, we got to talking and she said something that surprised me… because it was so unexpected.

“You’re jumping to Step 10 here.”
“Huh?” [I’m confused at this point.] “You said you want to lose 20+ pounds and that you’ve never been really physically active before.”
“Yeah…” [I think I know where she’s going.] “Well, look at what happened. You tried to take on something too hard too soon and I bet you want to go home right now and never come back.”
“Well…” [How.Did.She.Know!] “Listen, I’ve got another class to teach but if you want to try something else to lose weight I’ve got a system you may want to try. (Hands me card.) See ya.”

That’s it. She got up and left.

I mean normally, someone would try to convince you, sweet-talk you, or worse, even lecture you on what you’re doing wrong. But that didn’t happen.

I went home, looked up her site and I have to admit… I was sceptical. But at that point, what have I really got to lose, right? What’s 28 days, anyway? That’s just less than a month. So, I tried it.

Long story short… I have LOST A TOTAL OF 26.4 LBS (yes, more than my original target)…. And I can’t wait to see that b**ch again!

Want to find out the 28-day weight loss system Sheila used?

You can click here now to know more about BeFinallyFit (BFF), the weight loss strategy designed by 15+ year fitness veteran Hilde vd Berg exclusively for women.