8 Medium Cantaloupes

This Wednesday marked losing my 10th pound. Actually - when you take into account that my first two weeks on Weight Watchers I ended up gaining about 2 pounds, I've actually lost a little bit over 12, but the net result since I have started is that I have lost 10.2 pounds. Here are some other things that weigh 10 pounds:

• 11.5 yards of heavy blue jean denim
• 10 boxes of butter
• 8 medium cantaloupes
• 2 sacks of potatoes
• 1 very big baby

Obviously it doesn't really look like I've suddenly taking 8 cantaloupes off my body or given birth to a very big baby (God help the women who do). But putting the weight into these images help me keep into context the amount of weight I have lost. It would be hard to carry around all the time 10 boxes of butter, but essentially that was what I was doing, but instead of that butter being in plastic grocery bag - it was spread out among my waist, my hips, my butt, my boobs, and my face. It's actually a horrific image when you start to think about it.

One of the reasons that I like Weight Watchers is that the goal is to change your lifestyle - not to just diet. Having worked in the cafeteria at an all women's college, I know get the hives when I hear the word diet. You would often hear girls saying, "I am totally going to gain 10 pounds because I put fat free cream cheese on my bagel. I need to go on a diet." Ok - that is a total exaggeration, but I did hear things like this - most often coming from these tiny tiny girls whose figures I would love to have myself. I think for a long time in my head I was thinking - "Screw that. I want to enjoy my food." So I ate what I wanted and when I wanted, finally ending up weighing 310 pounds in January. But the whole point of Weight Watchers is so you don't end up freaking out over consuming a tsp of mayo on your sandwhich. You figure out substitutions that don't change the taste, you eat freasher foods, and you make sure that you exercise. And pretty soon you find that these things make you feel better than eating 10 oreos.

If you think about it - it's really a mental game. One of the toughest mental games you will ever play. I've just happened to score 10 points on my opponent.