October

[fenchurch]

I can't believe how cold it's gotten here. I'm so glad I packed a jacket and a hoodie... and even more glad that I keep some winter gloves and a scarf in my car's 12-hour kit (once the temperatures drop below about 50, I *have* to wear a scarf over my face or I'm guaranteed to get bronchitis). Because of the sudden cold snap, I went out today and bought two pairs of pants, since all I'd brought with me were capris (technically, this is because they're all I own that currently fit and they're already getting baggy... a few more weeks and I wouldn't have been wearing them anyway). Had a funny moment where I went to try on some jeans and automatically grabbed an XL pair, then on a whim picked up an L pair as well. Guess which ones I bought! :-) And I'm beginning to think I should have tried on a Medium pair... I've been wearing these all day and they're actually pretty baggy, as well. Wow. I'm also going to have to retire some of the shirts I brought with me, they're getting so big on me now they're almost not wearable. I still can't believe how well the weight-loss is going!

The snow today fell for about an hour but never stuck to the ground... although my mom says that they're practically having a blizzard over in northeastern Oregon. Definitely NOT looking forward to potentially driving through the Blue Mountains with snow on the ground. Speaking of which, they're predicting anywhere from 1-6" accumulation here this weekend. I still can't believe it. Apparently, this isn't bizarrely early for here, but it's still not a common time of year for it to start.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to start working on the pattern pieces for my Halloween costume. I've gotten some great ideas from drhorribledress, so hopefully I can pull this off with a minimal amount of frustration. I think I may have enough time to do a mockup in cheap fabric first, to make sure I'm getting it right.

Comments

[rosiewook.livejournal.com]

You are SO rockin' the weight loss. I pray your success falls upon me! :)

And dang. That is a bit early for snow; even where you are.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It still keeps taking me by surprise... I think it's all in the mindset. Like I said, I just automatically grabbed the XL pair of pants... but at least it's finally starting to occur to me immediately that I should try the Large. It may take a bit before I start in with "Or maybe the Medium" though. In the mornings, I'll still hold up a size L t-shirt and think "there's no friggin' way I'll even be able to get my arms through that thing, much less wear it in public." And yet, several of my Large t-shirts are starting to get a bit loose.

I'll definitely try sending the weight-loss mojo your way! Personally, I think it's all a matter of everything being in perfect alignment or something, because there's no way it should be this easy.

[zola.livejournal.com]

I truly think it has a lot to do with the exercise. When I first started doing all my yard work, I actually gained a couple of pounds, but I talked to a body builder who was kind enough to explan the biology of what was going on so that I wouldn't give up and get depressed, and he made me understand that I HAD to eat.

So all of a sudden I'm eating more than I have in years, and I'm not gaining any weight when formerly I'd be limited to one small meal a day just to *maintain*. And though the scale was staying pretty much locked at the old weight, my clothes started to fit a lot better. It turned out I'd lost five inches off my waist and four inches everywhere else, for all that the scale didn't change.

So fast forward to now. We're coming into fall, usually I have to watch like a hawk not to put on five or ten pounds. This month I've already lost three pounds.

Again, it's the muscle spurring this, as my friend explained--since my activity is naturally slowing down due to the time of year and less mowing etc to do, my body is releasing some more of the fat it was hanging on to "just in case" since I'm still eating well but not excessively. It means my caloric intake is just right, maybe a tad too little but not enough to put my body in starvation mode when it hoards every calorie it can get.

I'm still getting enough exercise to maintain the muscle I built over the summer, I'm just not in an active "building" phase, and since I stopped starving myself, my body now recognizes that it has plenty of supply and plenty of reserve for winter, and it's jettisoning what it now sees as "extra". This could be five pounds, it could be twenty, but I'm still going to end up with a lower proportion of fat regardless.

Just like you say, "there's no way it should be this easy" but it all began the day I stopped looking at calorie restriction and diet and said "It's not the number on the scale I care about as much as being healthy enough to be be able to do the things I want to do."

Once I started actually taking care of myself, it seemed like the rest started taking care of itself with no effort whatsoever on my part other than getting the roomies to eat any goodies we may have so they aren't sitting around tempting me for days, LOL!

Everybody's situation is different, but you and I both seem to have vigorous exercise and a certain amount of strength training in common, and that really does seem to make all the difference.