Check-in

 

My weight this year.
There are bobbles up in April (France) and
in July (Sweden). 
I have to pay attention!

It turns out I didn't lose any weight in July. I was at the tail-end of my low starter dose of Zepbound, and I skipped a week's meds entirely for my colonoscopy. But I think the biggest impact was 15 days of travel, and a "what the heck, I'm almost on vacation!" mindset for the week before. I simply ate more than I had been eating, with a definite increase in the amount of alcohol (beer) and also ice cream before leaving. And while away, I had some beers, and really didn't monitor what I was eating. I tried to monitor "how much" and how it made me feel, but honestly I just went with the flow. I think it's clear to me now that keeping the weight off will require life-long vigilance, even if I stay on the magic drugs. 

But on the bigger, longer picture, things are going well:

My weight since 1988

 This is a good reminder that I have been a fat person for a long time, but that it is totally possible to change that. An aging body may make it harder, but new tools are available. I first weighed roughly what I weigh now more than 30 years ago! (And I never had any maternity weight to blame, either.) My current weight is about what I weighed when I retired, in 2019.

I feel great about this. I never really adjusted to the most recent post-Covid surge in my weight. My closet is full of clothes that more nearly fit me now, and I'm pulling them out and happily wearing them. I haven't permanently retired anything yet, but I'm having to wear a belt with a number of trousers that didn't require them before.

So by the numbers:

• It's just over 20 pounds
• By BMI reckoning, I've moved from "obese" to "overweight"
• By clothing size, I'm closer to "L" than "XL"
• And, in what makes the most significant difference to me, I've lost inches --
  One inch off my bust
  Two inches off my waist
  FOUR inches off my hips!

A major driver for me of weight loss is wanting to wear clothes that I feel good in and that I believe make me look good. The way my pear-shaped body is out of proportion when I'm at my heaviest makes me feel bad. I worked hard over the past few years to embrace body-positivity and not hate the way my body is. I made some strides, and I certainly never considered my weight a barrier to exercising and being fit. But being able to buy a jacket that fits my shoulders and still zips over my hips is wonderful! I can now button a collared shirt all the way down. These things make my daily life more pleasant.

So onward! Excelsior! 

 EDIT TO ADD because it feels timely:  Fun Fact! My weightloss in 1996 was kicked off by cyclospora, from raspberries from Guatemala. I lost 8 pounds of water weight overnight and went to the ER in morning, where they stuck me with an IV before I'd finished filling out the forms. I then left the country on a work trip for three weeks. It lasted about 5 days, and then it kept coming back, slightly less virulent, every three weeks for several months. It finally tailed off. I never ended up with antibiotics, because I'm allergic to many and was traveling.