Day: April 25, 2010

Pictures….Past and Present

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment
In case you are wondering why I have two posts today, I have to admit that yesterday’s one was due to a technical error on my part.  Got it fixed now 🙂 
Anyways, I thought I’d post up some pictures for you to see me during my “peak” days.
This is a picture of me with my beloved dog Dyzio during high school. He’s now in doggie heaven and I miss him very much. 
See how small my eyes are?  Chubby cheeks.
The one on the right is from when I lived in Poland. I loved the potato dumplings there and ate

so many of them I think I look like a potato myself!  Notice the arms and the way I had to stand to hide my tummy…ugh… poor me. 😦

Having cold weather for most of the year didn’t help either. I remember it would go to -20 degrees celsius in winter and we would be living under sweaters and coats. It got dark at 3pm and you spent most of your life indoors.   Its a very easy way to gain weight!  Went ice-skating outdoors, but I guess that wasn’t enough!

I wasn’t always big! yeah! I grew up, and lost weight in college having to walk several blocks to attend class.  Having a fitness nearby and active friends helped.  I remember going out for midnight rounds of tennis.  Loved it.  I guess I lost weight without much thought to it.  I was young.   How I miss the good old days!
This picture of me was after I had graduated and started out my career.  I would work 10 hours a day, sit at my desk in front of a computer.  I finished and went home to a big dinner.  My weight blossomed.  I never even realized I was so big!  I was so focused on work.
I continued to be big for ten years.  My hair got longer, and I guess I handled the weight better (in terms of hiding it under my clothes)  This picture is me around 1.5 years ago with Alex. We both enjoyed eating and would go try out different restaurants.
This last picture is of us last weekend hanging.  Alex lost 17 kgs and I lost 14 kgs.  Together we lost 31 kgs (65lbs)!!   If you think about it, its equivalent to a 10 year old child, or a very large dog, a baby panda, or enough rice to feed a family of 4 for months.
 Can you imagine all that fat we used to carry around everywhere?  I’m glad to be able to say “Good bye” to it and say “Hello” to a fitter lifestyle 🙂

It Ain’t About Inner Beauty

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment
I was looking over some old photos today of Alex and I last year at a restaurant and was shocked at how big we were.   Even when I was “big” and knew that I was chubby, I wasn’t really aware of HOW big I was.  Now I know..I was BIG!  (I’ll post up some more pictures tomorrow when I have a computer)

It used to annoy me to no end when people commented on my weight.  Some people, I thought, were so rude to comment on my “chubbiness” in the first few minutes of our encounter.   Overtime I learnt it was a “Thai” thing. Thais were worried about our welfare in terms of food,
“have you eaten yet?” and also about appearances.  It was important to look good.  First impressions are everything.

I used to think …”people should like me for who I am, it’s inner beauty that counts not how I look outside.”  I still believe it, but I realize now that the way I thought about it before was my way of giving myself an excuse to stay big.

I told myself, “I will not become a barbie doll or those people who are so well groomed they look so “perfect” everyday.  I have my own character….and so I remained big, got bigger, and gave myself more reasons why I didn’t need to lose weight.  I was in denial.  Everyone
else was just so “superficial.”  I wasn’t really THAT big.  I was just chubby!  So I like eating, so what? I wasn’t harming anyone.  (except myself)

Health never came up.  I believed and told myself that I was “chubby,” that I hadn’t outgrown my baby fat. Now I know that wasn’t so. 🙂  Its funny to look back now and see through all the excuses I gave myself with my eyes wide open.   It’s now crystal clear that health ain’t got nothing to do with my inner beauty!

As a teacher of mine liked to say all the time, “excuses excuses are but  confessions of failure.”  It’s so true! Thank you.

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