Awesome!!!
 

Way to go!!!!!

I've your posts on the boards and you always have something really great to add.

I'm glad I'm a member of a board that has you in it.

You're pretty inspiring to us all.

Lolabug.

Donald,

I know how much guts it would have taken to post the 'before' shot. Excellent loss so far- I know you can keep it going. Oh for that day when we reach our goal. The astonished looks of our friends and most importantly the increase in personal worth will be immeasurable.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Fergus.

Congrats! (and thanks!)
 

Donald, you are a great inspiration ... and you look fabulous!

Congrats
 

white

Don that is quite an accomplishment. I started on my LC program on 3/1/02 just prior to an operation on 3/9/02 for a total hip replacement.

My surgeon told me that part of my problem was due to the excess weight (335lbs) and I figured since I was having the second hip replaced I should make every effort to make them last for as long as possible.

Don't intend getting on the scale until 3/01/03 or one year from the start of the program. So far I have gone from a 52/54 waist to a 48 and the best part are the compliments from friends. I find that when I weigh myself and I don't like the result in sabortages the program so I will hold off. Look forward to seeing future posts from you with updates of your success.

Al

WEIGH TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

hERE'S A BIG HUG TO YOU FROM ME!!!!!I WAS DOWN TONIGHT UNTIL I SAW YOUR PIX GREAT JOB!!!!!!! :wave:

OH...MY....GAWD!!!
 

Fantastic!!! You are really an inspiration to us all. chris

i think you done really well
 

You are doing so well,and the photos are here to prove it,keep doing it,you look really good. :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
Fatima

Sincere and endless thanks to all who have posted here...
 

Thank you so much for all of the really thoughtful comments that have been posted here...

The best part of this for me isn't that it makes me feel attractive or validated, but that it may inspire others to stay the course.

I've lost another 7 pounds since I posted these pix, and I'm on to my next mini goal of 100lbs lost by September 11th (my birthday...yeah, I know, a rather crummy day for a birthday in the U.S.)....

Thanks again, and continued LC success to one and all!

Donald

Don't worry about dates...
 

Don't worry about the fact that the day you were born happened to become a day when people will mourn their losses.

People die every single day. People are born every day. The people who happen to be born on the same day that some one died aren't responsible for the death. They don't owe anything to the mourning family or friends. If we all lived our lives an apology for being born on a day that happened to be a really crappy day for other people, we could never experience victory, joy, satisfaction, peace, love, contentment, or a million other desirable emotions and experiences.

We don't expect those who are grieving their losses to forget their grief on our behalf, but neither do they expect us to forget the thrill of living on theirs. And unless someone was just a complete and utter killjoy bitter picklebutt of a person, they would be grieved to know that their death would prevent the celebration of life for others.

You still aren't sure how you can celebrate a birthday on the anniversary of devestation so broad and far-reaching? Do what the terrorists were trying to stop. Live your life. Celebrate life, living, and thriving in the freest country in the world. Honor the death of those who were sacrficed by not giving in to what the killers wanted. Don't die with them.

My father died 7 years ago. My birthday is 9 months, to the day, after the day he died. His birthday was 3 days before mine. At first, I had trouble with the grief so near to my own events. And I do still grieve, lest people think I'm an uncaring cold witch. But I realised that, the day my father died, I didn't. As long as I lived, as long as I remembered him, he would live through me. I couldn't continue to celebrate the blessings my father passed on to me if I had allowed myself to wallow in grief and be buried with him that day. My father wouldn't have wanted me to die when he did, wouldn't have wanted my entire identity so wrapped up in him and his death that I could never again experience the joy of life.

I missed him at my graduations. I missed him when I met and married my husband. I will miss him when I give birth to grandchildren he will never know, but would have adored. I will miss him when I see his smile on their lips, or his life in their eyes. But I do my father a disservice, I do my family a disservice, if I lose myself in my grief. I must choose to celebrate his life, instead of only mourning his passing. I want my children to know their grandfather as the loving, vital man he was, and not as a major depressor in their mother's life.

Don't be sorry you happened to have been born on a day when monsters chose to strike. Don't be afraid to celebrate all the wonders and joy life offers. You can pause to mourn, but remember to continue to live and love. As long as we persist, we've defeated the terrorists...and the sacrifice we payed on your birthday won't ever be an empty or vain one.

Hey Donald,
Sorry this is so long coming, I have been off the wagon for awhile. :( but am back on now. You look fantastic!!!!!! What an inspiration. Keep up the good work and keep posting those pictures. :Party:

Mary Ann

Celebrate life
 

Heather,

That was very eloquently put. I couldn't have said it better myself.

It's okay to look back every once in while with tears in our eyes, but a majority of the time we should be looking forward with smiles on our faces.

Lolabug.

Absolutely right!
 

Y'all are absolutely right...

...about celebrating life on my Sept. 11th birthday.

I had honestly never looked at it that way. I can be so thick headed sometimes...

Thanks for starting that thread, hjackson!

Donald

Just remember we all love you!