A New Bathing Suit

Well – I spent my gift cards last night, and bought a new bathing suit. Both top and bottom are size 16! Dave needed some shorts for work, and I also purchased a new water bottle. Total retail was over $132. Sale price of everything was $88. I spent only $3.34 out of my pocket. (Technically, out of Dave’s pocket, but what is his is also mine, right?) After we got home, I put on my new bathing suit and let Dave take some pictures.

My very first thought was that there was NO WAY I was going to post those pictures on my blog – or anywhere else. All I could see was the saggy and droopy bits and the glaring imperfections. But then I thought that this blog is not about being perfect. It’s about my journey to lose weight – and part of that journey is learning to deal with my changing body. So, the pictures are there. The saggy and droopy parts are not going to go away. And it still possible to see how very far I’ve come. (Look at how much of the door you can see behind me – for a quick comparison, scroll down through all the pictures!)

So, I’m putting the pictures out there, as well as myself. And even as I say that, I know that the people who love me are not going to look at the flaws – they are cheering me on, happy that I have accomplished so much already. Just like I would be happy for anyone else. So, thank you for reading this, for supporting me through this journey.

I’ve used this verse recently, but right now, it is important for me, and worth repeating.

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his dearth, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:10-14, NIV)