Sweet Sixteen

A week that involved less-than-perfect eating (stupid Toronto meetings meant pastry breakfasts three days in a row and room service twice), but plenty of working out (every day but Tuesday, a travel day! Cardio, strength, the whole pierogi), ended with victories of all kinds, scale and non-scale.

First, the scale. I am less concerned about this kind, as I still don’t have an accurate, regular, old-stand-by scale for weigh-ins. On Saturday, I weighed myself at the Ancestral Palace. The scale there showed me 23 pounds down from where I was in October on the same scale, and four pounds down from my weigh-in two weeks ago on the scale at the New Gym. How does New Gym’s scale compare with Ancestral Palace’s scale? Who the hell knows! Which brings us to the much more important and meaningful Non-Scale Victories.

To wit: an excellent shopping day on Saturday, during which I purchased a number of super-cute items of clothing at H&M (how I love thee, let me count the garments…), all in size 16. Size! Six! Teen! When was the last time I shopped with impunity in a “regular” store? This is an excellent question. Suffice to say that it was some time ago. Long enough ago that the rough date, in fact, escapes me. And this wasn’t any kind of flukey, this-one-size-16-item-fits-but-everything-else-looks-like-hell kind of shopping trip either. (I’m looking at you, pants from The Gap). Rather, I fit nicely into a dress, a wrap sweater (size 12 on that, if you want to know, though I consider that flukey in the extreme), a lovely semi-structured shirt, a jacket (size 14 in that one, though the 16 woulc probably have been better, it had sold out. The 14 will do for now, and will last me a few months, at least), and a bunch of other stuff, some of which I didn’t even buy. In fact, I tried on an extremely lovely mocha coloured skirt with a blue lace overlay that fit like a dream, maybe even a slightly loose dream. But my very smart sister pointed out that by the time the weather warrants wearing it, it probably will not fit. Such a smart sister. And what a novel feeling, to leave behind something that fit. That is, to not simply buy clothes because they fit, but to actually make choices. A revelation, to be sure.

Also in this category: I am beginning to experience ease when crossing my legs. I think this rocks. Also, working out is beginning to become second-nature. I think this rocks, too.