Tuesday, October 16, 2007

YAH, Boyeeeeeeee!

So check THIS out.

In 2006, I was wearing sizes 16 & 18, depending on the day or clothes. I'm 5' 3". That's pretty big even for someone who wears weight as well as I do. I'm a big boned little hobbit. But even so, I was too big and didn't feel good.

In March 2007, when I had shingles, the doc weighed me in at 198 lbs. Which was disheartening because I had trouble eating due to the shingles being in my mouth. So I thought for SURE I had lost some weight. If I had, that means I was probably topping 200. Nice. Very nice.

Fast forward to after the future ex leaves and mom is here trying to force feed me teensy amounts of food. So in May or June of 2007, I weighed in around 175. Not bad. I got really excited and thought, well, if I have to go through the hell of divorce, I better get SOMETHING out of the deal, eh? I had bought some size 14 pants and had to squeeze them on. But hey, it was still a smaller size.

Well, since my return from Boston a couple of weeks ago, I decided to actually make an effort to lose some size. I mean, the Divorce Diet is powerful and all but eventually the depression lifts and you start back to your old bad habits again. Who needs that?

I have been doing very small manageable things like:
  • eating smaller portions - amazing how huge the portions are at my favorite restaurants. Amazing how much money I have saved by bringing home half and having that later for a meal.
  • cutting out soda or limiting it to a once-in-a-blue-moon thing. I can't stand diet soda. Aspartame is a tool of the devil. So I only drink sugared soda. When I stopped doing that almost every day, that was the first real huge drop in size I saw. Just my stomach bloat alone was gone. Amazing.
  • eating until I'm not hungry - which is way different than eating until I can't possibly eat another bite for fear of exploding like some Monty Python skit.
  • eating soup for lunch - a good veggie & bean soup with a cheese stick cut up in it is incredibly filling.
  • making better choices when I eat out. I can still go to Burger King with the boys. But now I leave off the fries and shake. Or I get a salad with chicken on it.
  • eating more of the good stuff so I'm too full for dessert. At the baby shower the other day, the hostess (who is thin & fit, by the way) served only really awesome, tasty, good-for-you food. I didn't feel the least bit guilty eating my fill. So when they brought out the cake, I could actually say "no thanks" without weeping inwardly.
  • not snacking with the boys. I used to eat snacks with the boys. Whatever they were eating. Cookies or whatever. Active little boys can have snacks like that. Sedentary 42 yr old women cannot. So I started snacking on pecans, almonds or peanuts. And maybe a very small yogurt.
  • not snacking while I watch TV or blog or whatever I do after the boys are in bed. That's hard. I love a good evening with the idiot box and my favorite snacks. Even the not-so-evil snacks were just more food than I needed in a day. So it added up.


Now, I will confess that the initial reason for my zeal in this was due to thinking about a certain guy. But since I started dropping the size, I am SO stinkin' HAPPY! So now I'm doing this for ME.

So the giant "WOO HOO!" here is this:

My size 14s have been falling off me lately as I walk. And that's not a good thing. So today during lunch, I ran over to the mall and tried on some size TWELVE pants. They FIT. And without having to totally suck in your gut while you pray that those mirrors really aren't two way. I just fastened them. No wrestling into them or anything!!!! Let me tell you, if my size 14s weren't falling off already, I would have done a little jig in The Gap!

So I bought 2 pair of size twelve. I almost bought about 6 pair. But then thought, wait, don't waste your money! Because you're gonna be a size TEN by Christmas!!!!

Yah boyeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

4:20pm Edited: well the new size 12 jeans are officially a hit. I picked The Boy up from the bus just now. I had the new jeans on and a big ol' t-shirt - which rather undid the whole effort of looking svelt. My neighbor's daughter hops off the bus and, as she's running by me, says, "I like you in jeans. They make you look better!" and off she went. The approval of a fashion concious 3rd grade girl...not bad...

13 comments:

Kristen said...

Congratulations, Lynette!!! You are beautiful!!!

Beck said...

GOOD JOB! Now send some of your magic my way, too.

Sarakastic said...

woo hoo!!!!

Allie said...

Yay for you! I gotta get me some of that zeal :)

There is nothing like the voluntary praise of a child to make you feel happy. There's just no other reason for them to say those things unless they're true!

Mary Ann said...

Wow! Congrats. What a way to celebrate your birthweek...

Jane said...

Yay for you!!!!!! I'm so happy and proud of you, Lynette.

I like your list of things that are working for you. One thing I do is buy small dinner plates (kind of a little larger than a salad plate). I put my meal on a smaller plate and have only one serving. Otherwise, I would use a regular size dinner plate and go back for seconds and thirds on that pasta that I love so much. I can not say enough about how much it helps to go through the refrigerator and cabinets and trash all the processed junk and snacks. If it's not there, I can't eat it PLUS I want my kids to have better eating habits too :)

Trish Ryan said...

Wooo hoo! What a gift to you! You do look awesome, and I haven't even seen you in the 12's yet!

Angela Marie said...

Woooo whooooo! You go Lynette! I am so proud of you!!!!!!!!!

:)

gorillarod said...

okay....now you were exactly where I am now! and I was over 200 2 months ago and have lost 13 lbs but I gotta say WAY TO GO!!!! I only wish I could lose as fast without exercising...THAT IS REALLY IMPRESSIVE. The exercising for me was going great until my knees starting hurting so I had to switch from walking to biking and I have to get back to it. I'm in a slump. Seems like you just found the motivation! My biggest problem is late at night after dinner when I'm not suppose to be eating. I think it's cuz I know I'm not suppose to that I have that craving but like you I try to eat nuts or yogurt if I feel I have to have something.

Thanks for the mention on your blog of my birthing...

Love you

Ape

Stacy said...

Congrats! I really need to learn from you.

Darlene said...

Yay for you, sweet girl!!!

and let me tell ya, those 3rd graders know what their talking about...

you hot mamma

btw...I'm 5'1" and just got rid of the size 2 pants I've been hanging onto for years...I'm a comfortable 8 and wouldn't change a thing.

I'm cheering you on girl!!!

love and hugs,
xox darlene

Beth said...

Yay! I'm so happy for you! There is no feeling in the world like trying on a smaller size and discovering that they fit!

Wanda said...

THAT WONDERFUL~!! Great job, and I love how you are doing it...the right way!
Go Girl!! :)