- R.I.P…my lovely bargain basement designer shoes.
It is a sad, sad day when your shoes abandon you.
The “Underwear Incident” was embarrassing, but ultimately funny. That I could live with. Buy some new undies, toss the car-cover ones and move on. Easy-peasy.
But this?
This was a horror beyond all imaginable.
At about fifty pounds down I was totally feeling the groove. I had this! I was in control. Yes indeedy!
I had found some of the most awesome consignment stores to buy, what I like to call ,my “Interim Wardrobe”. My biggest score was a snappy black and white daisy print sundress for three dollars! Losing weight, or even simply getting in shape, does call for some changes in sizing. Every girl (or smart and stylish guy) knows that clothes are an investment. So, when you are working toward a goal you have to be thrifty…as you may only be in that particular size for a few weeks or so. Finding a great second-hand/comsignment shoip is the key to not having to wear oversized pants, all cinched up at the waist like Jed Clampett, while working your way toward your goal.
Know what I mean?
But…I was totally unprepared to suddenly find myself walking out of my formerly snug shoes. And of course, in true dork-fashion, my first experience with this phenomena…was on an escalator. Picture me standing tall and proud in my smaller sized undies (which, of course only I knew about…but still, it was way cool!), gliding doooown the escalator, maybe thinking about doing the Royal Wave…just for kicks… when I go to step off at the bottom and BAM!!…almost performed a face-plant right outside The Gap.
(Note: Do we all feel the urge to smack the twelve-year-old sales girls in there…or is it just me?)
What the hell? Right?
After righting myself, and sliding my size nines back into my favorite Spanish Leather pumps I realized….they were suddenly too big! They fit fine last week! I clomped my way out to my car and kicked my beloved shoes off on the floorboard.
What the hell?
My shoes! My one source of happiness, no matter what size the rest of me might be.
I rushed home, threw open my closet doors, plopped down on the floor and started pulling pair after pair of shoes from the bottom of the closet that my husband had long ago deemed The Shoe Shrine. I’ll admit it…I am, and always have been, a bit of a shoe-whore. I love unique, sexy and fun shoes…and, at this point and time, had collected quite a display of quite fabulous footwear. They were my hobby…and my cherished little piece of heaven…even at Payless BOGO and Cross-Dress-For-Less prices.
And suddenly??? My feet had….shrunk? Leaving me shoeless?
So. WRONG!
I did not see this ANYWHERE in the Weight Watchers paperwork! There should be a warning label. Something that says “Oh, hey…getting healthy makes your knickers fall off when you sneeze…and yeah, those awesome designer shoes you got on sale for such a bargain? Totally say bye-bye to those bad boys.”
I was so pissed. But then, hey, I was sort of happy too. I mean, even my feet were getting smaller. But, damn…what was I going to do about footwear? So not fair! But then again…really cool, right?
My id, ego and super-ego were in an all out war of reason.
To say I was torn was an understatement. And this is the lesson you learn when you base your identity in what your wear. Even just a little bit.
Lesson learned. I tip my hat to you Madame Fate.
And there was more shrinkage to come. But we’ll just save that for a bit later. Okidokie?
Now, just a bit of a deviation from the main flow of the river of this blog. You’ll notice that I have not recently shared many photos, save one or two, of myself during this point in my journey. The reason for that is…this blog isn’t about me. Well, O.K. it is an account of my getting-healthy-losing-weight dealio…but, my goal for this blog is to put some common ground out there for anyone who might be trying to make this kind of change in their life. I’m not looking for any acclaim or notoriety. I would just like to provide some information that I wish I had access to when I was trudging along, hoping to succeed.
Simple as that.
Read it. Love it. Hate it. It’s all fine by me.
The one thing I never was, throughout this process (I keep saying “journey” and it’s making even me all pukey), was pathetic. O.K….maybe for a minute during The Coffee Table Incident…but outside of that? I have always been, and forever will be, so freaking upbeat you’ll just want to slap me.
*big grin*
That’s just me. The last time I worried about being judged for my appearance was sometime in my early teens. I know I’m a super-awesome person (I’m guessing you are too!) and as long as I know that, only super-awesome people will take up residence in my orbit. Every now and again a bad egg will slide in under the radar, but they’ll get spun out again soon enough…and leave you even smarter and more awesome. And really…you totally know you make more progress on any project if you are positive…right?
Sounds all funky and new-age-like…but try it. Love who you are, flaws and all, and you’ll be amazed how stress-free life becomes. Take every single situation that you come upon, and feel to be negative, and dig out that one nugget of positive. It’s there…I promise. You just have to WANT to see it! This, I believe…ultimately, was the root of my drive and determination. While I knew my heart and soul were super-cool, my body was sending up a red flag that maybe I just might want to pay a little more attention to my packaging, before it decided to up and quit on me…right?
This is also why I have shared the record of my weight loss. So readers can see that it doesn’t just *poof* drop off overnight. The most healthy and sensible way to lose is slowly, naturally…and without some crazy starvation or drug-supported fad-type diet. Does it take self-control? Sure. Is it hard at first? Of course. Is it better than yo-yoing up and down, becoming a slave to the gym, letting some maybe-experienced person inject you with vitamins and god-knows-what else, or emptying your bank account to eat packaged meals delivered right to your doorstep until you want to scream? Yep. Totally.
So…fifty pounds or so down…and that’s just about when, unknowingly, I pissed some people off.
To be, as they say, continued… 😀
Tags: Diet, Health, honesty, hope, inspiration, losing weight, obesity, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers