Monday, February 26, 2007

Non-scale victories . . . 'cause they're the ones that really matter

Yesterday: "Are those new sweatpants?" I think I may detect a note of anxiety in his voice. I did just buy a pair of expensive running shoes, and my husband is the more frugal of the two of us. But we live on a budget, and, outside of emergencies, I don't buy things we haven't budgeted for. (And actually, our budget is set up to catch most emergencies as well.)

"No, they're not new. I used to wear them when we went to the gym."

"Oh." He's forgotten because they haven't fit me in a long while. And they are both bright red and cut slimly through the hips and thighs, so if they don't fit well, I'm not wearing them! But they do fit me now. Yay for recovering wardrobe pieces.

~~~~

"FEEL ME!" I'm standing in the kitchen, and he's two rooms over in his office. "FEEL ME FEEL ME FEEL ME!" Then I laugh, wondering what our neighbor must think we're doing. I'm standing in the kitchen with my hands on my waist, feeling how much differentiation I'm developing between my waist and my hips. My waist is one of the places I lose weight first; above a certain weight, my weight thickens closer to the size of my hips, but normally . . . well, in high school, I had the waist of a size 6 and the hips and breasts of a size 10. J. Lo had nothing on me. I'm not anywhere close to that size set or differentiation now, but I feel sexier when I can feel a greater distinction in my curves. I like being curvy--the curvier the better.

He finally comes into the kitchen and rubs my waist and hips. "Wow," he says, and his eyes widen. "I can feel a big difference."

My hips and breasts used to be perfectly balanced. Then I had surgery twice for ovarian cancer, and it left a ridge of scar tissue in my lower abdomen. Now my hips are always a little bigger than they would have been before. But that's okay--it used to frustrate me, but I'm alive, right? That's a lot more important than having hips and breasts that are the same size.

~~~~~

I'm still sick. I was worse today, so I stayed home from work to rest. Tomorrow and the next day, I'll have days that are about 14 hours each at work. Ick. And there's no one to run that stuff but me, so I have to be there, awful cold-ish thing or not.

I had my husband bring me home a pint of B&J's for my sore throat, but I've only eaten about a fourth of it. I do want something cold, but I don't want something so fattening. And I'm not a big popsicle fan.

I think by tomorrow night my nose will be as red as one belonging to someone in a cold meds ad. Ick.

It's a good sign that I feel like I'm missing out when I'm too sick to go exercise. But I know missing a couple of days can throw me back into old routines if I let it. So by Thursday (once my crazy workdays this week are done), ask me whether I've been out to exercise, okay? (Assuming I'm not this sick still, anyway.)

12 comments:

SuMarie said...

Hope you get to feeling better.

Marathon Someday said...

Yay for feeling the ridge above your hips!!! That's awesome! I know that when I'm losing weight, I love to obsessively keep feeling for the "thin" parts.:-) And I had no idea that you had ovarian cancer - and look at you now! You rock!

The sick thing is going around blog-land...I am soooo sick with a cold right now, and am also feeling rueful about not exercising. We'll be back soon!

PearShapedGirl said...

Wow, Veggie, those sound like great results! There's nothing like slipping into clothes that used to be too tight, what a great feeling!! I hope you start feeling better soon, Sonya's right, this sick thing seems to be going around blogland. Hopefully you'll be back to new and exercising by the end of the week.

Take care,
PSG

Cory said...

WOOHOO! Sexy lady! Glad to hear that you are liking the body changes. That's awesome! And getting back clothes is really cool too.

I'm sorry to hear that you are sick though. SOOO many people are right now. But you'll get better, no worries!

WeightWatchnWoman said...

Hey Sexy Lady!!!!

Sorry to hear that you are sick, but I am happy to hear that you are loving the new shape...watch out HUBBY!!!

Kim said...

I hope that you are feeling better soon! Take care of yourself. :)

Robyn said...

Woooohooooo for the hourglass! I hope you feel better soon, best of luck tomorrow :)

~~Midnight Raider~~ said...

You're lucky that you lose tummy weight first. My belly flab is the last thing to go. :(

i i eee said...

Rock on the "new" sweatpants! Sweet!

Thanks for the Tori article link! :)

ArleneWKW said...

I like the title of this post. You are so absolutely right about "non-scale victories" (and, of course and as you already know) the scale victories inevitably follow the non-scale ones. Too bad about being sick though . . .

In catching up on blogs, I saw your recipe for dal. I just finished a book in which dal was frequently cooked. Now I want to make some and will use your recipe as a basis. Yaaaaaay.

Miss Laura said...

Oh, I love this site! I hope you get to feeling better as well, and congratulations on the red work out pants. They sound like a fantastic sort of pant to wear again! (I haven't had red pants since I was four. I do believe I need to rethink this wardrobe deficiency.)

I've been trying to comment here for a few days now but blogger hates me. So, while I can I also wanted to say that your story about meeting your husband warmed my heart. And not just because I met my fellow who also went to G. Tech while I was at the same weight (and self conscious about it) as you were. Though I guess I am a sucker for tales I can relate to.

i i eee said...

I hope things are okay right now, and that you haven't been terribly affected by the tornadoes. Crazy weather.