I discovered the Fat Flush Plan by Ann Louise Gittleman, the last week of March, 2003 while I was standing in a grocery checkout line. The magazine headline said: “Lose your cellulite in 14 days!” Since my daughter had just announced her intention to wed in only 5 short months AND that she wanted everyone in sundresses, you can imagine how this headline caught my attention. (Can I digress here and complain about this? I mean there OUGHT to be a law requiring female offspring to give their parents a full 12 months notice of intent to wed!) (second digression: I come from a long line of cellulite-prone women and suffered from it all my adult life. Didn't seem really possible to finally be rid of it)

Having resigned my self to a fat old age after trying and failing at many other diets (highest weight ever was 233 ), I figured that if I could flush enough cellulite to make the sight of me in a sundress a non-hanging offense, I’d be satisfied. Imagine my delighted surprise to find the weight melting away along with the cellulite! While I had not rid myself of all my excess poundage by my daughter’s wedding, I dropped from a 2x dress size to a 14 and looked fine in the sundress! (no one came to arrest me, at any rate!)

In the first 5 months following the Fat Flush Plan, I flushed 50 pounds and ultimately reached my goal weight in just over 6 months (September 2003). When I started the maintenance phase of the FFP, I weighed 150 and wore size 10. Since I’d NEVER in my adult life worn a size 10, you can be sure I was a happy happy fat flusher! I’ve been in Phase 3 (the lifestyle/maintenance phase of the Fat Flush Plan) for a year and a half and I've had no problem maintaining my weight. In fact, during that time, I actually flushed 4 more pounds and two more dress sizes. As amazing as it seems (and trust me here, I have to pinch myself whenever I go clothes shopping), I now comfortably wear a size 6. <insert happy dance HERE! >

In addition to shedding 57 pounds and over 25 inches, I’ve realized a whole host of other benefits such as improved sleep, better concentration, resolved menopausal symptoms, glowing skin and lustrous hair, energy to burn (DH says I’m terminally perky), no more migraines. Not only that, but I've actually been featured in magazines (First for Women, Women's World, and Low Carb Living) although ya hafta think that fame of this sort ("I was morbidly obese and now I'm not") is perhaps not the <ahem> kind to write home about.

These days I'm planning on living to the ripe old age of 150 and bedevi - er - helping (yah, that's it! HELPING!) my family for years and years (and years).

Anyhoo, take it from me - the original skeptic, if this WOL can work for me, it WILL work for YOU!

What I learned along the way:
1) There is no finish line to this WOL. If you expect to make temporary lifestyle changes in order to shed weight so you can return to the lifestyle that made you fat in the first place...you're going to regain the weight. Bottom line - find a diet plan you can live with for the rest or your life and then stick to it.

2) So you can't eat <insert fave carb here> without gaining weight while your best friend can eat 4 of them and is skinny as a rail. Get over it. Life isn't fair. Get over that, too. Chances are, there are health issues just over the horizon for your best friend. You'd better get healthy so you can lend her moral support.

3) PLAN AHEAD! If you walk out the door without a clue what you are going to eat, you WILL eat off plan. Fail to plan = Plan to fail. Yah, it's true - you'll need to devote some time in the kitchen. Get over it.

4) Wearing size 6 feels better than the best chocolate cake in the world tastes. I'm not kidding. (ex-choco-holic, here). I've got more energy, feel 20 years younger than I did throughout my 40's, and shopping in the "small" section gives me such a charge that - if you ever see a tall blonde just standing there grinning like a cheshire cat with some itty bitty gorgeous fluff in her hands - that's me. Come over and say "hi."

5) Laugh out loud every single day of your life because life is way WAY too short to spend any other way. Besides, laughter not only burns calories but releases endorphins - what's not to like?

6) Shedding weight and improving your health is a gift you can give your entire family, but ultimately, you need to do it for yourself. You DO count and you DO matter.

I'm off m'soapbox now (ok, you don't hafta be QUITE so happy about that!).

Pick a plan. Read it well and then re-read it. Go shopping. Today is the first day of your new life, what are you sitting here staring at the computer for?

PS. If you'd like to see more photos of my amazing transformation, check out my picturetrail: http://www.picturetrail.com/csoar2004

Truly an inspiration to many of us!