Not only do I look better, my dinner plate looked fantastic! I spent the day cooking as always, but didn't eat a little something of everything I cooked all day like I have for years. I ate a healthy breakfast before I got started and that got me through until our early dinner. I took a moment after Grace to look at what I had put on my plate. One slice of ham, one small scoop of mashed sweet potatoes (with skim milk & a little butter - not the kind with brown sugar & marshmallows! and more nutrition than white potatoes), one small scoop of scalloped potatoes and plain green beans. No rolls, no added butter, no stuffing, no gravy. I eyed the scalloped potatoes and knew that if I treated myself to the portion I had - and didn't go for seconds - that I would be OK with an extra workout tomorrow. I spent the whole dinner time enjoying my family and barely focusing on my food. I made some lovely desserts and just watched everyone enjoy them, I was full and passed on dessert (WHAT?). Oh, and we decided as a family that our new tradition for Thanksgiving is to participate in the annual Turkey Trot in our city. My son ran the 5 mile race this morning and my hubby & I walked all over town following him, then we figured why not grab our daughter & join him!

So here's how the past 20 something years have gone.......huge family breakfast with eggs, tortillas, sausage & hash browns, then I cook all day "sampling" everything to make sure it was OK to serve. As I made deviled eggs today, I remembered last year eating at least 5 just in the sampling process. Then at dinner time, I would eat a very loaded plate with large portions of everything all topped with gravy, and a big glass of wine. I would always go back for seconds. I would focus more on my plate & what needed to be added to make it taste better...more salt? more gravy? than I would the people at the table. Then an hour later the apple pie was done. Time for a slice of that with ice cream, oh, and don't forget the pumpkin pie! I would just blow off the calories because it was Thanksgiving after all!

Wow. I can't answer why I ever let myself get there, because I honestly don't know. All I can do is be thankful for where I am and pray to God for strength to continue on this path! I love where I am in life right now and could not have gotten here without the lapband and the support of my family and everyone on here! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving with loved ones...as long as the loved ones weren't topped with gravy or ice cream!