YET ONE MORE LITTLE SIGN OF PROGRESS...

I have been a snorer for a long time now. I know that even in high school I snored. How do I know that? I had a friend who's name was also Sarah. Seeing that her last name began with an L and mine began with a T - she was Sarah1 and I was Sarah2. Any classes that we were in together - the teachers even called us Sarah1 and Sarah2. Well one day we were in AP English (a class I loved cuz the teacher was great) and I had fallen asleep sitting up... kind of dozing off, when all of a sudden I hear Sarah say, "Mr. Z! Sarah2 is snoring!" My eyes flew open and I declared, "I am not!!" Oohh, I was mad at her! She was my friend and she turned me in! Mr. Z was cool and never said a word about it except for a quick comment as I went out the door, "I'll try to make it a little more interesting for you tomorrow." His little smirk let me know that he wasn't angry. But from then on I was always paranoid about falling asleep anywhere that I knew there were other people.

As I gained weight the problem got increasingly worse. When my husband and I got married I was fortunate that he was a heavy sleeper and usually fell asleep before me - even if it was only by a few seconds. In the last few years my snoring has actually kept him up. If I fell asleep before him he would not be able to fall asleep. If he woke up in the middle of the night he couldn't get back to sleep and would move onto the living room couch. I believe that I have sleep apnea because I am easily exhausted even when I believe I have had enough sleep. I would fall asleep at friends' houses while a bunch of us were there watching a movie... then my husband would tell me later how loudly I was snoring. How embarrassing!

Two weeks ago hubby told me, "I think your snoring is quieter than it used to be. Must be because of the weight you've lost." Then a few days ago he said, "Your snoring is DEFINITELY quieter. I can fall asleep after you and if I wake up in the middle of the night I can still fall asleep." I asked him how loud it really was before. He said, "Loud enough that if I was downstairs in the living room I could hear your snoring through the ceiling and it would tell me if you were still sleeping or awake." Through the ceiling/floor he could hear my snoring! On different floors of the house! He said he can't hear it anymore. And if I fall asleep on the couch I don't disrupt the movie. Wow. That is a change.

And one more change... last month I was so frustrated cuz I was hormonal BEYOND crazy and didn't know why. Then I weighed in and had gained... and didn't know why. That day I got my period. That was a big deal cuz I had gone since October without one and my norm for the last 6 or 7 years has been one or two a year - not good. So I was happy when my hormonal stuff and weight issue was explained by TOM. Well, last week, ONLY SIX WEEKS LATER! - I got it again! My hubby was kind of cute about it. He doesn't like to use technical terms like period or cycle or menstrual cycle - he just calls it "bleeding". So the day after I got it he walked in and said, "I'm glad you're bleeding. It means that your body is finally doing what it's supposed to." It was an out-of-the-blue comment and you could tell he'd been thinking about it on the drive home (he had just walked in after coming home from work). So, things are definitely changing for me. I won't stop. I'll keep going. I know things like less snoring and more periods aren't as exciting as smaller clothes or people commenting on how skinny you look, but it means alot to me because my body has been in disrepair for so long now. It's finally starting to heal itself and there's a lot more where that came from. I've got another 110 pounds to lose, but just imagine! If there's this much change after only 40 pounds - how much more after another 100! I am really excited to see what the future holds!