Sixth Bandiversary!

Want to hear something surprising?  It's 11 p.m. and I only just realized that TODAY is my sixth bandiversary.  I knew it was coming, and it's been on my radar through the fall, but I hadn't realized that today is The Day until just a few minutes ago.

Are you wondering whether I've gotten so used to my band that I just forgot about it?  That's not the case at all.  I still have to eat carefully and take care not to get stuck.  I still get on the scale nearly every day to take stock of how I'm doing.  And, I still work out -- it's actually become a part of my life -- something I did not know would be possible to achieve.

I think about my band one way or another every day, at least a few times.  Sometimes it's to realize that I shouldn't eat too close to bed time because that gives me reflux.  Other times, it's to think that I should be careful about what I order at a restaurant so that I don't get stuck.  More often, it's to be grateful that I've gone from associating guilt and self-loathing with food and how I feel about my body to feeling happy about my appearance and to really enjoying cooking and eating much more than I ever did before.

I am grateful.  So, so, so grateful.  That is a consistent theme in my blog, and that is because it is a consistent theme and feeling in my life.  I am happy much more often than not.  I have a wonderful husband who is the warmest and nicest person I've ever met, and I feel so lucky to have done so much work on myself before I met him that I was ready for this relationship when the time came.  And, as if that wasn't enough already, I just moved to a new job that is a step up in every way meaningful to me.  I am grateful, and I am psyched to see what the future holds. (Don't get me wrong -- my life isn't perfect, and I don't want to give you the impression that it's all smooth sailing for me.  Among other things, I've had some very scary family health issues this year, and have had arguably more than my fair share of stressful things to deal with on many fronts.)

Is a band a magic wand?  Well, no.  But, as I've said before, if the main thing bothering you in your life is your weight and relationship with food ... and you're willing to do the work, it can feel like one.  This has felt like a miracle to me.  I can't understate how grateful I feel to have been able to use this tool and for all the support, friendship and love I've found both through this blog and in my day-to-day life.  Sending all those good feelings back out into the universe, and to each of you reading this post.