What do you like about yourself?

Weight Watchers' twitter asked tonight "What do you like about yourself?" Their timing was perfect as I have actually been mulling over a post along these lines for awhile. My self image and self confidence has improved unspeakably since undertaking this life makeover. It is like I am a completely different person sometimes. Today I will write about ten physical things I like about myself. Maybe someday I will do a more introspective 10 things I like about myself as a whole rather than about my appearance.

Without further ado, though, here are 10 physical things I like about myself...

10. Eyelashes - my eyelashes are rounded and long. They are really cute. I wish they were darker so they stood out more, but on the whole I really like my eyelashes and am glad they are so nice.

9. Teeth - My teeth are really straight. I am an open mouth smiler (none of these pursed lips for me), so I am glad that I like the way my teeth look. Thank you Dr. Gustovitch for the retainer, and to my mom and dad for paying for the orthodontics work. I know it was tough to afford, and I really appreciate your investment in my smile.

8. Skin - As many people losing weight can probably relate to, one of my biggest fears about losing this weight is that I will have loose skin. I have to really hand it to my skin. It is hanging in there. I am doing many of the right things -- drinking tons of water, using baby oil, taking lecithin, and lots of weight training -- but years of abusing my skin by gaining weight has not seemed to take its toll thus far in the form of saggy skin. I am hoping that getting a gun show will help me prevent tricep wind flaps. Thank you skin and genetics for sticking with me even though I have not been kind to you!!

7. Shoulders - My shoulders are starting to have some definition. I hear that this is one of the first places you can see it when people start to work out and, if that is true, I am certainly no exception. I love that you can see that my shoulders are stacked. One step toward the gun show (incidentally, you can also see some definition in my triceps too...)

6. Chest - My grandma was well endowed and I apparently inherited this from her. Sometimes I complain about my chest but really it was one of the things that helped me to stay more well proportioned, even when I was almost 300 lbs. I started this journey at a 44H (I did not know they even made sizes past DDD when I was growing up), and although my band size has decreased, I am holding steady at an H cup. I think this makes my waist look smaller and for this I am grateful. Again, thank you genetics!

5. Quads - This is one of the places I have always been able to show definition when I am in shape. You can definitely see my quads and it helps me to look kind of stacked (how I eventually want to look all over) -- thank you group cycle!

4. Ankles - I have never had cankles. I am so grateful. For some reason I just really like the way it looks where my calves meet my legs.

3. Calves - My calves are really good looking. Even when I was bigger, it always looked like they were strong. Maybe they always have been strong. I am not sure, but I love the way they look. Actually, you can kind of infer based on #3, 4, 5 that I really like my legs. They look great (with the exception of my inner thighs -- but I don't think I know any females who love their inner thighs? Mine look gross because of stretch marks).

2. Lips - This is something I have noticed very very recently, and why I was thinking about making a post like this even prior to the WW tweet. In the last 5 lbs I have lost, my face has started to really look much skinnier. I think I am losing the weight in my chin(s), which is amazing! Anyway, since my face looks skinnier, I think that it really helps to accentuate some of my facial features. One of the things that has jumped out at me is how I love my lips. They are heart shaped and really cute! I love them! (Incidentally, I think there also might be some dimples hanging out underneath the fat too...I see very slight hints in this direction but I am not 100% sure they will be there yet...I hope they are!)

1. (tie) Hair - I have not always loved my hair. In fact, I used to really hate the fact that my hair was curly and I tried very hard to fight it. The truth is, I did not know how to take care of it. It was a long long long road of trying tons of products and fighting with it before I finally learned how to work with the curl and make it work for me. (Thank you naturallycurly.com!!!) Now I love my hair. In fact, in the last week or so I really started to think to myself, "You know, God really nailed it when he made sure my hair matched my personality -- Thanks, man!" I also love the blonde-ness and natural highlights. Hands down one of my best physical features is my hair.

1. (tie) Eyes - My eyes are blue and they are beautiful. I think they are one of the reasons why I look so great when I wear blue. I have always loved them, even when I was fat. They work really well with my hair too.

The fact that I can come up with not ten but eleven physical things that I like about myself is amazing. Before, I would have struggled to come up with more than my eyes. Even a year ago, I would not have been able to say anymore than eyes and hair. I really do feel so much better about the way I look.

Recognizing physical features that I like is only one way in which my self-image has improved, but I need to cut this post off here so I can get to bed so I can go to spin class at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Sorry to leave you all hanging!