Heartfull

I read a book titled The Fat Fallacy when Mare was 18 months old. All I can say is this book spoke to me. It was exactly what I had been searching for over the years. Eat whole foods, eat small portions, treat your body well. I followed Dr. Clower’s advice and quickly lost 45 pounds. I weighed 185 in July when I ordered the book and by December I weighed 140. I had never, ever been that thin.

In December Will contacted me through the Yahoo Fat Fallacy message board I participated on at the time. He said that Women’s World Magazine had contacted him and wanted to feature his book and they needed success stories. I submitted before and after pictures and bio information. Not only was I chosen to be in the story, I was chosen to be on the cover of the magazine! Generally, I don’t like exclamation marks, but this is warranted, don’t you think?

They flew John and I to New York for the shoot. They paid for one night, but we decided to stay a second night (we wished we had stayed a third as well, though it was starting to get expensive.)

We had a great time touring the city and capped it off with the Broadway production of Mov’n Out, which was fabulous. The highlight, though, was the photo shoot. It was so much more professional than I expected and incredibly fun. I arrived to find the photographer and her assistants prepping the room. Soon, the make up guy, Bruce Wayne, came with his assistant. He got started right away. He gave me my first eyebrow plucking, ever (a little sad, don’t you think?) He was absolutely incredible and I didn’t even recognize myself by the time he was done. The hairstyle was definitely a little more “done” than I would have chosen, but it wasn’t my decision.

While Bruce was working his magic, the stylist arrived. I had spoken with her previously on the phone, and sent her photos of myself. She walked in, took one look at me, and said “your not a 10!” I was flattered and said, oh but I am, but then again, I have been so nervous about all this that I haven’t wanted to eat and maybe I’ve lost a few more pounds but my clothes at home are 10’s, though some are too big and just the other day I needed to buy a few 8s… Basically, everything she brought for me to wear had to be pinned in the back. And, she complimented me on how toned I was and indicated that if I had been a little more realistic, she would have brought different styles of clothes (the ones she brought were definitely on the dowdy side.) Man, low self-esteem really bites sometimes…

Then the shoot began. Lights, music, people telling me to move this way and that, people watching, people coming forward to fix my make up or hair. A million wardrobe changes. A huge buffet spread. It was thrilling.

The magazine was released in May, and that was very surreal. Word spread all over town and it was a very fun week. John kept showing random people and embarrassing the heck out of me. Woman’s World sent me a copy, and I purchased about 20 more, every time I went to the grocery store.

Well. That was it. My 15 minutes are over – but I’m not complaining. It was a blast.

Want to know more about Will? I can’t recommend his book enough – I’ve kept the weight off now for 5 years using his ideas and I’m a firm believer in the Mediterranean philosophy.