Last night was our kick off event for our circle at church. We are a welcoming group of women who do verious things in and around our communities. Some are for fellowship and some are for outreach and service. We had a chance to meet some new women who wanted to join.
I sat down at the table with two new friends and three friends that I have known for almost 40 years. As I put my plate down with a very small salad and a partial cup of fish soup, my friend spoke out about the scant offerings. I looked across the table to one new friend and said I weighed over 360 pounds at one time. No one really knew how big I was because they thought I was in the 200s. The cat was out of the bag! Basically, this did not become a topic of conversation, I would have told of my struggles and possibly much more. I say my new friend but once hearing her name, I recalled how my daughter went to a prom with her son more than 20 years ago. We had spoken about this in our church hall after her and her husband became members. The other woman and I have had some small chats but only to learn that she had been in the area for a year following the sudden death of her husband. Her daughter and family live near.
I have been eating out with several friends for more than a year after church. Some of them have lost their husbands through death and divorce. It is just a nice way to keep connected with women that I have known for 40 years. We have tried breakfast restaurants as well as simple places. We seem to like Panera's which opend a new restaurant close to church. It is where there is a choice of salad or soup.
Yet since the church school year started up again and our youth group meetings begin at 12, I had not been able to attend these social events. I wanted to tell you this because the woman who made the statement always attends these lunches. We even have called ourselves the SUMC Lunch Bunch. It has included men at times who find themselves in need of sustanence.
My dear friend is very outspoken. In fact, I never know what she will say next. She has caught me off guard many times. She lead Weigh Down Workshop Program with her husband which I attended and did very well following the program. I was amazed at her remarks. She had us all go up front of our congregation and talked about how we had spent 12 weeks on this Biblically based weight loss program. I did not know that she would say that I had lost 55 pounds with this program.
So, you see that I have come a long way since that time. I let it run to its conclusion. I made a statement to clarify why I was eating such a small portion.
Is it one thing to tell to the larger community what your issues are with weight and eating? Is it easier to discuss it with a small group?
In this social setting the conversation did not go further. At times, people have said that they have lost weight and need some advice. Mostly, I feel like the food police have gone on to other people. In fact, other than asking me if I was going to take leftovers home. It usually is not a point of conversation as to what I eat.
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