If it ain't one thing, it's another. All my life I've heard "you're too fat for this" and "too fat for that." As much as hearing those words hurt, they were right. I was. Having heard them for so long, at some point, I'd become immune. Hearing them didn't hurt quite as much, but the weight of the truth in those words were undeniable. I was morbidly obese with more excess weight than most of my friends weighed. Eventually, I got tired of the comments and all the extra energy it took to carry 400 pounds around, so I finally did something about it.

Thanks in part to gastric bypass surgery in 2006 and meeting my trainer Jake in 2008, I'm not fat anymore. As a matter of fact, I haven't been fat for quite some time. My weight loss has been a consistent downward spiral. Immediately after the bypass, the fat seemed to melt away. The restricted eating was enough to help me get down to a reasonable size but that was not enough for me. When the effortless weight loss stopped around the 220-pound mark, I started running -- scared. Literally! I had not reached my goal, and I was scared to see the scale creep up ever again, so I started power walking, which eventually led to running.

Now that I am at my current weight of 176, which is still 16 pounds from my doctor's "ideal" weight, I'm hearing things I've never heard. Such as my name and "skinny" in the same sentence. Huh? Is it possible that after all these years of obesity that anyone would say "Karla" and "skinny" together? The first time someone said it to me, I immediately looked down at my hips and thighs. There is nothing skinny about them. I didn't know how to take it, but I guess I was flattered, with it being my first time and all. When I began to hear it more often, I thought, is it possible I've lost too much weight?

Heck no! I started my weight-loss journey for my own selfish reasons. Having been an approval addict most of my life, losing weight was the first thing I'd ever really done exclusively for me. I focused my attention on me, and it felt good. I was empowered by knowing I had control over what I ate and how my decisions affected my waistline. If I, in fact, did it for me, then why do the words of others matter? In a nutshell, they don't. I have shrugged off those words to stay in tune with my personal goals. I worried that I'd swapped too fat for too skinny, but I didn't. Actually, I've made no exchange at all. I'm headed where I want to be physically and having set my own standard about it, when I get there, I'll know.

I started the journey measuring by my own ruler, and I shall continue in that manner. When I said I was too fat, I lost weight. When I say I'm too skinny, well, that'll be a cold day in hell. The message in this post is to judge for yourself. Wherever you are in your weight loss journey, be your own boss and set your own goals. Be comfortable in your own skin. Because at the end of the day, whether you're large or small, nobody has to live in that skin but you.