Cool Happenings :D

I've got a few cool things going on right now, and I wanted to share them with you all!  

1. As of this morning I'm down 80 pounds since I started this process at the beginning of the year.  Super exciting!  If you check out my TrendWeight, you can see I've had super steady downward progress, just the kind I like.  Yay :D  

2. Someone on OH has mentioned getting a Pandora bracelet and rewarding herself with a new charm every x number of pounds.  I really liked that idea so I looked into it.  Sadly though the official Pandora options are silver, which I'm allergic to, and gold, which is $2000 better spent on new clothes or plastic surgery or car payments or any host of things.  So I dismissed the idea.  Then I found a stainless steel Pandora-style bracelet on etsy!  I figured I'd do 20 beads, one per 10 pounds, but 20 beads won't actually fit on my bracelet so... I changed to 10 beads, one per 20 pounds.  Today I got to add my 4th bead!  Yay rah!  (I put a picture in my profile.)  

3. I've been working on my training plan at the gym on the treadmill and I've made it to 5k (or beyond) for my last three workouts.  This is amazing to me.  I've got 93 days until my 5k race, and I know that I can only improve between now and then.  Or injure myself ;)  But the plan I have devised is a slow one, spread out over many weeks, so I should be fine.  

4. Yesterday, I had a "wow, silly brain" moment while at the gym.  I was noticing myself in the mirror and thought "wow, these exercise shorts are really baggy, I can't wait until the new ones I ordered arrive."  Then I thought, "Oh.  Crap.  These are 22/24s.  And the ones I ordered are ALSO 22/24s."  Yes, friends, I completely forgot that a size smaller than what I'm wearing now is not 22/24s, because my brain has apparently not accepted that the shorts I wear now are smaller than the ones I started in!  OOPS.  I went ahead and ordered new pairs, in the right size of 18/20, and I'm having them shipped to the local Lane Bryant.  I'll go pick them up and return the ones that I ordered in the wrong size at the same time.  The lesson here is that I should actually check my current sizes before ordering new stuff instead of just assuming that I know what size I'm wearing.  Heh.  

5. I've switched to wearing skirts exclusively.  Well, when I'm not wearing exercise shorts.  I'm annoyed at how hard it is to find jeans that actually fit everywhere instead of just in a few places.  I ended up getting skirts from LotusTraders and would highly recommend them.   Since I'm short, I contacted them about hemming things and they've been happy to hem all of my skirts to 33".  At no extra cost!  And when I ordered a different size once, they actually emailed to make sure that I hadn't made a mistake.  Great customer service.  I also had a problem with one of my skirts and once I sent a picture they shipped me out a new one that very day.  I like the variety of skirts they've got and I like that their sizing is very "one size fits all" so I can order a skirt that will take me from my current measurements through to my final form - whatever that may be.  I feel like they're a good investment and a heck of a lot easier than dealing with buying new jeans that drive me crazy every so often.  This way I'll just put off buying a new pair of jeans until I actually need them for something.  Hopefully that will be a long time in coming, since I'm loving my boho skirt style.  

So that's the exciting stuff going on in my life right now.  :D

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.. Congrats on all of your accomplishments!!!!!!..... Great job!!!

Thank you :D

Gwen your amazing and doing so awesome 80 lbs wow!!! 

Since the beginning you have been one of my inspirations ... I thank you for that !! $ because of you I'm also trying the jogging and doing the 5K (color run 10/18/14  in Brooklyn ny) with my hubby and 14 yr old daughter !!! I keeping trying to think of that bear chasing me lol. ..

Out minds haven't caught up with our bodies ... lol 

I too own not one pair of pants except my yoga pants not yet down the road I know I'll have to but not now!!! I'll follow your lead ...

Gwen your fantastic keep it going!!! :-)

♡ Kelly

Aw, thank you so much.  That's AWESOME that you've signed up for a 5K!  I've heard the color runs are TONS of fun.  My bff did one earlier in the year and it looked awesome.  Sadly my partner doesn't like "messy" runs, so I doubt I'll ever end up doing one, but we'll see.  I might decide I love running 5Ks!

Pants suck right now, eh? :P

Fantastic!  Amazing progress.  :)

Thanks :D

Gwen - you have made FANTASTIC progress on your weight loss, good job!    I looked at the picture of your bracelet and it is just lovely, what a nice way to treat yourself.  And it provides a constant reminder of how far you've come! 

And can't you wait for the day where you no longer have to buy ANYTHING from Lane Bryant?  Loved that it was a place where I could get stuff when I was bigger but I really love being able to walk into any store now and get what I want...at cheaper prices :-)

Thank you!  I do love seeing it on my wrist as a constant reminder of what I've done and what I have left to do.  

And yes, I can't wait to be done with Lane Bryant!  What size does that happen?  14?  I seriously have no idea where "normal" sizes start anymore since it's been decades.  

Probably around size 16 - it will be exciting!