Linda

Dear Michael,

This is a very small thank you letter- the inverse of the gratitude I actually have for you and your team. I am now literally less than half the woman I used to be: down 53 kgs from my assessment weight, down 73 kgs or 160 pounds from my largest. I have from a size 24/ 26 to a 10/ 12.

I am not sure which is more significant: the feeling of liberation, of no longer being “other”, or the things I can now do. I can cross my legs, I can kneel and crouch for over an hour gardening and still keep going, I can bike ride by the sea for over an hour and half, I can run, I can skip down the front steps instead of getting both feet onto one step before tackling the next one, and I am even prepared to wear shorts!

There are also the things that I don’t do now: I don’t grunt when I get down to the floor, I don’t need an extender belt on the plane, I don’t see myself in a shop window and think Dear God, you are fat. I see myself and, if I think anything at all, I think, I am ordinary, I am normal, I am like other people.

What I don’t like is - What? Finding my shoe size has decreased so that I have to hunt for tiny shoes, and wearing bed socks to bed all through summer because my feet get cold. But not much else!

Through out this process I have felt accepted by you – never demeaned or marginalised or blamed for being fat, always accepted and respected, both by you and by all the staff. I have felt supported, trusted, and the issues I faced were acknowledged factually and helpfully.

I stopped dieting in my 30’s (having been put on my first medically controlled diet aged 11) because I finally accepted the reality of my genetic heritage and my earlier life actions. Now in my 50’s the other, the petite, side of my heritage is having its turn.

I feel normal: I am normal. I am happy.

Thank You

- Linda

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