I swear I woke up fat, well fatter. I heard a woman say on a show once regarding how she gained 100 pounds that when she started gaining - 5 pounds here, 10 pounds there, she just kept accommodating the weight gain instead of nipping it in the butt and I realized what a true statement that was! As I kept getting noticeably bigger, I just kept adjusting telling myself I still didn't look "too" bad until one day, this day, I stand at 288 pounds. There is no way to camouflage 288 pounds! My wake up call came a couple days ago when I stared at a strange little creature with tattoos, gauged ear lobs and piercings everywhere, noticing my stare she screamed at me "What the F%$& are you looking at fat ass?!" And I realized how I was perceived by the world - a fat person. No less of a freak then the very person I was staring at. I could no longer deny it. So here I am, God working good through the bad things in life, had it not been for that mortifying experience I probably wouldn't be here today on Spark People, I wouldn't have had my "wake up call". Here's to a new life, a scary but hopeful journey.