Oh boy. I felt a bit embarrassed by my huge proclamation of how amazing everything was going to go with my healthy living habits once school returned for term 1 this year. Because it hasn’t exactly gone to plan! The first week was stressful – I (along with Mr Unprepared) had a very important (in)fertility appointment the day before school went back and the Little Mister then had staggered starts to his pre-primary career (it’s his first year of full time school). This led to both comfort eating and me just not getting my head around the fact that the holidays were over! The routine wasn’t fully in place yet!
Week 2, I was really excited. I’d been waiting for the school term to kick in properly and I was quite motivated! Which of course was a great time to come down with a throat infection. My diet wasn’t totally terrible but it wasn’t amazing. I was exhausted. I was on cold and flu tablets. I was just surviving – not much exercise for me!
So, week 3… It started pretty well! Walks with my OG MG (that’s me trying to be like a cool kid but being a really lame parent while describing my original mothers’ group from when the Little Mister was born). Time on the treadmill. Better organised meals etc.
After that, I got sick again. Or maybe my original sickness never truly left me. GAH.
But then I realised that the numbers on the scale are definitely (thankfully) not everything! I have had some great non scale victories lately and I should celebrate those!
A funny little hollow in the middle of my back
I’m a bit weird. I don’t measure myself, but occasionally I’ll discover something new about my body. Like I’ll literally stumble across a part of my body with my eyes/hands and think, “oh that’s different”. Today I felt a little hollow in my lower back. A little dip near my spine that didn’t used to be there. At first I thought maybe I was actually getting fatter as the fat on my sides seemed more accentuated thanks to this little hollowed area. Then I realised that I can feel my spine more. Like I can tell I’ve lost a few layers of fat in that area.
I’ve been self conscious of my back fat, so this was really encouraging! I hope to get back that lovely thing that happens when you’re in shape and your back curves in nicely and your butt becomes more defined! Right now I sometimes feel like I have one big back-butt LOL. I mean, I look normal enough in clothes, but I would love to see that change when I’m in my birthday suit.
My mum noticed I’ve ‘lost weight’
I hadn’t seen my mum for maybe a month (she was interstate for a bit) and when we got together she said I’m looking good and like I’ve lost weight! This was a really really great thing to hear because I know I can be really self critical and I can always trust her to be brutally honest if need be. So when my mum says it, I know she means it. While the scales might not say I’ve lost weight since Christmas, I must have stayed a bit more toned or have lost some fat. Awesome!
My dad said he could see a change!
So I love my dad, right, but ask my mum and she will tell you he can be a little slower to catch on if you get a hair cut or new glasses etc haha. When he said to me that he could see a difference this past weekend, I was over the moon!
I’ve dropped a dress size or two!
It’s taken me a while to get here, but I’ve finally accepted myself as being two smaller sizes* in everything except pants (they’ve always been my worst enemy apart from that one time I was too skinny in year 11). I was busting out of my old size in dresses or t-shirts and now I find myself reaching for a smaller size and fitting into cute dresses that actually suit my height (i.e. short arse)! I am one size smaller in jeans and there’s a little muffin top, but it could be considered a good fit (any bigger and I’d have a pouchy crotch area – nobody wants that).
Recently, I’ve found myself enjoying clothes again. Feeling reassured that something will fit when I try it on – the only question after that is whether the style flatters me. I remember despairing at trying on larger items to find nothing really fit OR flattered, as being a shorty, going a size up was not going to work without a lot of alterations in dresses etc. I’d somehow become used to that.
Last week I tried some things on, on a whim. I have a couple of special occasions coming up and I just wanted to see what was out there. I was consistently two sizes down in every store (you know how those damn sizes always vary from label to label). That felt amazing! I had so many more options than I used to. I can only hope this gets easier and easier as I continue to head towards my goal weight and tone up a lot more!
My legs
I’ve started really playing with the incline settings on my treadmill. This seems to have made a difference in my legs! They seem a bit more toned and I like how my ankles seem to be a bit more defined! My legs haven’t chafed during exercise in a while either (although we’re still very much in mermaid thigh territory – not necessarily a bad thing – what’s the point in a thigh gap anyway)!
I’ve still got to work harder at getting back on track, but I am being as kind to myself as possible. This term of school is a little lot more disruptive in nature than I might have originally anticipated. Just wanted to touch base, keep it real, and also remind myself that there’s more to being healthy than numbers on the scales. Thank goodness!
I may sometimes feel like I’m just headed nowhere (there’s nothing worse than being sick and unable to be proactive about exercise), but these things have kept me feeling encouraged about the changes I have been able to make. I’ll just keep plugging along!
Have you had any non scale victories recently?
*You might wonder why I haven’t mentioned my specific dress size. It’s because I don’t want to put any attitudes out there that certain sizes are something to be ashamed of or should be ideal. They simply did/didn’t work for me. One size can look very different on every woman!
