Weight Watcher's Diaries Part Ten
By Carol Daelemans

Miracle Weight Loss!

Today I went for my weigh in again but this time I came out jumping up and down. I had lost 4 1/2 pounds. 4 1/2 pounds in one week! This was the first week that I had started back to my regular walking routine of an hour after supper with my best friend, Maria. After I lost the first few pounds, I added walking to my new dieting routine and my usual twice a week weight training workouts. Now, even if I've already been to the gym for an hour of weight training and a half hour of cardio, I still go walking with Maria. A) I want to get better results and B) I want to get out of the house. And let's just say I don't mind getting out of dinner dishes and bedtime battles. My husband has been very supportive. And this week it paid off big time!

When I went in for my pre weigh-in, cardio blast drop-a-few-more-ounces workout, I was hopeful. My pants have been looser every day so I knew the news would probably be good. I climbed onto the scale and adjusted the weights to my previous total and started moving the scale weights backward. I moved them a little more, a little more, and a little more. I was so surprised and pleased to be able to move it so far back. I must have telegraphed my pleasure to the entire locker room. As I was floating gleefully off the scale another woman in the locker room said to me, "Good results?" Oh yeah!, I practically screamed. I was thrilled. I called my husband on his cell phone. No answer. OK. I called my oldest sister on her phone. No answer. All right. I tried my youngest sister on her cell phone. No answer. Nice. I tried my mom. Since she was baby sitting Goldilocks for me I knew she had to be home. I was on my way to her house anyway but, darn it I wanted to share! Thank goodness she answered. If she hadn't answered I would have been left calling my dad at work. No offense Dad, but you're not the first person anyone thinks about when calling to share news of tremendous weight loss. My weight loss is women talk only.

After the joy of discovering Sees Candy now sells dark chocolate eggs, I was pleased I'd only gained a half pound over Easter but now I was really hoping I'd lost it and then some. To lose 4 1/2 pounds was beyond terrific! It meant the jeans that had been bugging me since they started to slip down from my waist were really going to bug me now. While it sure is easier to get to the bathroom if you're in a hurry when your jeans are too loose (you can pull them straight down toddler style) it's really inconvenient hiking them every time you take a step. On a 40 year old, this doesn't look so good.

Despite the huge loss this week, in no way do I feel its time to shop for new clothes yet. I'm far from my end goal and hope to lose plenty more. I still have only lost the weight of a small infant. I have an entire toddler to go!

Still, it was time to look for some solution to the slipping pants. While I have more weight to lose, I have no intention of inviting back the weight I've already sent packing. I dug around in the closet to organize the pants I do have and figure out what I had to work with. Way, way, way back in the farthest reaches of my closet I found them. You know what I'm talking about. "The Skinny Jeans." We all have at least one pair. That perfectly good pair of pants worn oh so long ago we couldn't quite give up because of course they'll fit again "someday." Right. Frankly, most of the "skinny jeans" out there will be so pitifully out of style by the time they can be worn again, they should be handed over to the good will now. I've never met anyone with too much closet space.

Before my miraculous weight loss, close to death is when I thought my high school favs would fit again but by then hospital gowns would be mandatory anyway. Maybe they could have buried me in my "skinny jeans", I thought, but I didn't see myself walking around in them ever again. Until now. It was me and the skinny jeans. In a closed closet standoff. I was afraid to try them on. I was feeling good about my weight loss but trying on pants that are too tight can kill anyone's momentum. I went for it. I jumped in feet first. Good news! The "skinny jeans" fit. OK so they weren't the most comfortable pants I've ever owned but it sure felt good to have them on even for a little while.

"Back in the day" when I bought the jeans new they hadn't come up with the incredibly revolutionary idea of adding spandex to every pair of jeans. I loved the Oprah show where she showed off her "favorite things." She'd fallen in love with a pair of jeans that featured a "new stretchy style anyone's butt could look good in." I'm not sure if that's true but more butts can look good plus we don't have to be strangled at the waist to feel good. Isn't technology wonderful?!?

Thanks to Oprah, now that I can fit into my "skinny jeans" I don't want them any more. I want to go shopping. I want to see what it's like to try things on that show off a little more of the shape I'm getting. I'm bidding farewell to the kind sales ladies in "Encore" or shall we say the "Fat Lady's" department and looking to see how nice the ones in the "Petites" department are. Hmmm. Perhaps my reception in Petites won't be the champagne affair I'm imagining. Okay, so I'm not quite ready for "normal" sizes yet. Lord knows, I certainly don't want to kill my fragile new self image by trying on clothes that don't fit—again. So for now, I'll satisfy my cravings by weeding out the "too big" clothes from my closet and trying on the smaller sizes in the "Fat Lady's" section. But watch out! I'll be raiding the petite racks quicker than you can say chow fun.