Who Is That Person Looking At Me?

There may come a time along your weight loss or healthy life journey that you look in the mirror and ask yourself, who is that person?

It might be due to large amounts of weight loss or maybe because your up at 5 am and about to begin a killer morning workout. Maybe it’s because you passed on that extra helping of your favorite pizza or chose a green monster over a bag of M&M’s.

Whatever the reason, be resolute and happy for that new person for they’ve chosen a path less traveled in today’s society. It’s a challenging road full of road blocks and potholes but the rewards are numerous and amazing.

Along my journey I’ve recently had a number of who is that person moments that I wanted to share.

• This past weekend I was in a coffee shop in Batavia washing my hands when I looked up into the mirror and had to do a double take at the person looking back. Was that really me? Much thinner face, defined cheek bones, sweaty face, and broad smile … I’d just ridden 20 miles and now we had to turn around and do another 20 (to get home) and yet I was smiling. This was certainly not the old me, must be the new healthy me I’m looking at.
• Driving in the car yesterday, for some reason or another, I start looking at my hands and start moving my fingers. Are these my hands? They seem so foreign now days … gone is the fat on the back of my hands having instead been replaced with the underlying muscles, bones, and tendons I can actually see moving. No, I’m not trying to gross you out here but have you ever looked at the back of your hand while your fingers are moving? Mine have changed dramatically since I’ve dropped a lot of weight and they now seem a bit foreign to me.
• Walking down the isle at the market picking up some almond milk, spinach, bananas, and flax oil for some green monster smoothies. Really? Wait where’s the frozen pizzas, soda, ice cream, candy, and junk of the old me … who is this new guy? Gone are my old eating habits, found are the healthier habits of the new me.
• Lying in bed trying to get my daughter to sleep as I put my arms around my torso like I’m hugging myself (it’s actually comfortable). I can touch my back now? This may not sound like a feat to most but you have to see my before pictures to understand how big I was. Heck, sleeping in general is kinda new to me because I find I’ve taken on new sleeping positions that I hadn’t been able to do before due to how big I was.
• Working out in the basement doing lunges, crunches, dead lifts … oh my. I’m actually sweating a lot, way more than I used to when I started working out. You know they say a fit body sweats a lot right? If that’s the case then I think I’m the fittest man alive (kidding) because I sweat quickly and with gusto. Sure I’d sweat some before because I was overweight, that’s a given … this however is a whole different sweat for another purpose. It’s actually cold to the touch and evaporates fairly quickly which is what sweats supposed to do. Looking at my legs I immediately wonder who’s they are, they seem strange to me, muscular, sweaty, and thinner than my old ones.
• Departing the train today I take the stairs leaving union station, it’s three flights. Imagine two long tall staircases banking each side of a set of escalators going up the middle. The escalators are jam packed with people with a line at the bottom to go up at least 15 deep. I’m climbing the stairs solo … yea, you read that right solo. Who is this guy? I used to be on that escalator because a single flight of stairs left me winded. Now I climb all three flights and my breathing doesn’t change at all. I feel strong and powerful!

These are just a few of my moments in the past week, there are so many others it’s kinda crazy. I can’t explain very well exactly what it’s like looking in the mirror and having an unfamiliar feeling looking at myself. Someone I’ve known for quite some time now seems foreign to me, but at least I really like this new me and enjoy these new experiences.

One thing I forgot to mention which is 100% relevant and critical to all of the above moments … they were all accompanied with a smile

Have you had a “who is that person” moment recently?

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