Achievement unlocked - it's normal stores for me (aka size 14 at last!)

Another month down, and another milestone reached.  I am officially a size 14 for the first time in 13 years, so I have basically traveled back in time to 2000.What is significant about this loss is that it means that I can officially shop anywhere - - - most straight stores stock up to size 14 (nowadays, in fact, most stock up to 16 or even 18), so I can actually go browsing in "normal people" stores like my girlfriends.  Not only that, I can reasonably expect to find something in my size.  Put another way, I no longer have to go to specialty "big girl" stores, or shop only in stores that feature a plus size section.  I can shop anywhere.  Well, except for Abercrombie, but their CEO is a doofus for ignoring the reality of the demographic change to his target market. 

This month I lost another 3 inches, going down half an inch on my bust, an inch and a half off my waist and another inch on my hips.  Biceps, calves and thighs remained the same this month.

All combined I have lost more than 61 inches off my body since I started working out at the beginning of 2012, which is more than 5 feet of stuff, gone.  It certainly explains why parts of me look so deflated.  I expect that my measurements should start to stabilize soon, and I should only go down another size or two at most by the time I reach my goal.  My top half actually is already a size 12, but my prodigious hips keep me safely in the size 14 range. 

I remember the first time I had to shop in a plus-size specialty store.  It was heartbreaking.  The staff were very friendly and helpful, and the clothes were actually quite nice, but it felt terrible to know that I could no longer shop in the same stores as my friends.  When we went to Banana Republic or Club Monaco or the Gap I knew that there would be no point in browsing, because those stores did not stock plus sizes - - I knew there was nothing in store for me.   If my normal friends complimented my outfits and asked where I got them, I was ashamed to tell them, because they would never shop in a plus size store.  I would pretend that I had forgotten where I got the outfit, which as we all know, is impossible.  Women generally know the provenance of every single item in their closet - - I know I do, and I refer to things by their source (e.g. my "Lands End twinset" or my "Talbots jacket").  It is only the clothes in my archive for which I can no longer remember the source, but they are the exception (since it has been more than a decade since I last wore these clothes, and a lot has happened since then).

Even more humiliating was receiving gifts from friends or family that were woefully undersized.  It was nice that my friends and family thought I was much smaller than I actually was, but it made me feel even more ashamed to know how big I had let myself get.  I remember one year my mother gave me a beautiful cashmere sweater from Holt Renfrew in XL.  At the time I was 2X, creeping up on 3X, and the sweater did not even come close to fitting me.  It was the largest sweater they had, though, and it was a lovely gesture -- I did not have the heart to tell her that there was no chance that I would ever wear the sweater.  I tried it on when I got home, and looked like a soft and luxurious sausage.  It was not a good look.  Nor can I wear it now - - it's too large (!).

So another month is in the books, and I am still seeing progress on both weight loss and inches lost.  I am not in my final form yet, although it is getting close - - only around 4 months left to reach my goal!  Put that way, and it sounds terrifyingly close. 

For the record, I still don't recommend getting people clothing as gifts - - get the size too small, and you make the recipient feel fat, and get the size too big, and you are saying that you think they are fat.  And god forbid it does not fit.  It's just not worth the bother - - that's why my sister gets so many purses and wallets from me as presents - - fine leather goods are always the right size!

Week 73, 129+ pounds down

I think my body is finally adjusting to taking the rest day.  Over the first two weeks that I started taking a rest day, my weight jumped up after my weigh in day and it took me until the following Saturday weigh in to make any additional downward progress.

This week, for the first time, I was actually below my previous week's weigh in by Friday, the day before my Saturday weigh in.  It feels like I am actually starting to physically get used to the new schedule. 

This week I managed to lose another 1.3 pounds for a total of 129.2 pounds down to date, or 76% of my target.  I am now down to 204.7 pounds, which officially puts me at light-heavyweight.  Not yet overweight, but that's only a matter of a couple of pounds now, and I know it is only a matter of time. 

 

I am still on track to hit my 165 pound weight target sometime between the end of November, 2013 and the end of January, 2014.  If I hit my final goal in January, that would mean that it has will have taken me 2 years to lose 168 pounds, which would work out to an average loss of 1.6 pounds a week.  That feels slow, but it also feels like a nice, sustainable weight loss.  One I hope that I would be able to maintain. 

I have had some great fasting blood sugar figures this week, with all normal readings, and 3 readings even below 5.0 mmol/L (where the upper limit for normal blood sugar is 5.5 mmol/L).  May was a watershed month in terms of my blood sugar readings, and now each month is more normal than the last.  I am so happy to see these readings each morning, because avoiding the Type II diabetes that riddles my family is one of the main reasons I was workout out.  That, and being able to sit on chairs without breaking them, of course.

For Father's Day I sent the Patriarch a Withings wifi scale that records weight, body fat and BMI, as well as my favourite fitness apps like TactioHealth, Glucose Companion, and Full Fitness HD.  The Patriarch is tracking his food and exercise using MyNetDiary, which I personally do not find as user friendly or flexible as MyFitnessPal, but to each his own.  The Patriarch was only recently diagnosed with Type II diabetes, and he is working to develop better eating habits and to increase his activity levels.  It's kind of strange how I am the more experienced person when it comes to lifestyle change; I am the one giving him advice based on my longer experience with nutrition and exercise - - after all, I am a year and half ahead of him.  He still weighs less than me - - but only slightly - - but I am far fitter.  And at the rate I have been going, I will be lighter than him pretty soon.  It's a real role reversal between father and daughter, though, and it feels a bit odd.

This week I had a funny thing happen at discoveries.  We were at the court reporter's office, and I had one of our assistant's bring over some printing from the office.  When I went out at the break to pick up the printing, the receptionist handed it to me before I even introduced myself.  I asked her how she knew the printing was for me, and the receptionist told me that she had looked me up on my firm's website to see what I looked like.  I must have winced (it's a photo taken before I began working out), because the receptionist said "You need to get a new photo!".  Love it.

Just so you can see what she was speaking about, here's the (terrible) photo in question, compared to how I look now:

So where do I stand in relation to my goals?  Pretty good, actually:

I reached my "light heavyweight" goal this week, so that's another goal down.  Next up is reaching overweight status, which is only a couple of pounds away.  I should (hopefully) reach that in a couple of weeks or so.  Next up is to break the 200 pound barrier. 

The Nerd and I are going to South Carolina in a couple of weeks for his family reunion, and I am a little worried about (a) food, and in particular, healthy food; and (b) exercise.  The cabins at which we are staying are right on a lake, and there are apparently kayaks and boats available, which is good.  On the bad side, there is no internet access at all, which may cause me to have seizures - - I am such an internet junkie, I don't know how easily I will be able to go cold turkey like that.  It will be like traveling back in time to the 1980s, except without the snazzy fashion sense and danceable music. 

This week will be another challenging week, albeit for nice reasons.  My sister's birthday is this coming Saturday, so Friday night the family is going out to North 44 (a nice Mark McEwan restaurant in midtown Toronto).  That's all well and delicious, but my new weigh in day is Saturday. 
Given the typical sodium levels in restaurant food, even trying to eat manageable portions will make it tough to lose weight this week.  But I keep reminding myself that this is a long term lifestyle change, not a sprint, so one week off the reservation should not be too bad for me in the big picture.