The Beautiful People

I want to say thank you for the encouraging comments I got on my last post about work. Business has picked up a little bit and I've been able to actually go in and work my scheduled hours this week. My paycheck today was even two hundred dollars more than I had anticipated with the lack of hours so I'm relieved about that. I haven't posted in a week because I've been really busy between work and going to the gym with my husband. It's SO great to be working out again, and even more so with my husband. Now he actually gets a little down if he comes home and realizes we don't have enough time to go to the gym before I go to work or if the childcare is closed and we have no babysitter. It's a really nice feeling. Last night I had a patient who was in because of their COPD (they were still smoking so we had a little chat about that and I convinced them it was REALLY time to quit. For real.) Anyway, this patient was a very large person (about four hundred pounds) and we got to talking about things they could do to help improve their overall health and naturally diet came up. They said, "Oh I've got that covered. My doctor put me on a low-carb diet and so far I've lost 170 pounds." O. M. G. I was very impressed and I said as much. I told them that I too was on a doctor approved low-carb diet and was shooting for a loss of about the same amount. They were very encouraging and told me they were sure I could do it because, "You're a very intelligent and determined young lady. And if I can lose that much, anyone can." Now I'm sure it will be just a bit tougher to lose that much since I started from a lower weight but I know I can do it. That patient has no idea how inspiring they are to me. People like that are who I look to for encouragement to keep going. People who understand my battle. People who have really been there. People who aren't just ten or twenty pounds overweight, but who really understand what it's like to be in my place. Those people are beautiful to me, no matter what they look like.