Fitting into clothes of a certain size, shape or style is often the single motivating factor for people to begin their weight loss effort. Skinny jeans anyone or would you like to drop a dress size or two?
Personally, I didn’t have a specific size or particular piece of clothing as my target or goal. I was fighting a feeling; the miserable feeling I had every morning as I walked to my closet(s); overflowing with clothes, yet nothing to wear. My morning routine? I would change outfits several times, sometimes in tears, often making myself late, and eventually opting for one of the same few choices. Sound familiar? Believe me, this is a shitty way to start your day, every day.
I don’t even know exactly when I stopped buying or even looking at the styles I really wanted to wear; always searching instead for something to make me look a little less fat. How many black, empire waist or shapeless clothing items can one woman possess? The answer is infinite.
When I returned home after my 5 week summer “Work Out” vacation at the Lab Gym, I immediately cleared out and gave away seven trash bags of clothes; many with the price tags still on them. Plenty of things that were too tight when I left were already too big when I returned 25 pounds lighter.
I repeat this process every week now. My body is in a constant state of change and so is my perception of it. When I packed for my recent trip to the US, I realized that all the clothes in my suitcase had been bought in the past 90 days and all the clothes left hanging in the closet, were actually too big. I did another major clear out before unpacking when I returned.
If this sounds like a luxury problem to you, I won’t disagree. Replacing my entire wardrobe has been a little overwhelming at times, but so much fun I could never complain. Now, I only buy what I love and getting dressed in the morning is a joy! I will definitely share some of the shopping highlights, especially from Rome and Paris, but the starting point of this adventure was neither glamourous or fun.
The most surprising thing is that the miserable feeling I had every morning didn’t go away when I lost 25 or 50 pounds; not when I dropped one dress size or four. The really good news is that it only took about 3 or 4 days; days of waking up and immediately putting on the clothes that I carefully selected the night before and laid out next to the bed. These were not just any clothes, they were work out clothes and after a few days of early morning workouts; I realized I was racing to the gym and feeling great. I’ll admit I needed to set two alarms to make sure I didn’t miss my workout, but the hopeless, miserable feeling was gone before I had lost even one size, pound, or kilo.
No doubt, starting is the hardest part, but I was on my way and never looked back! If you are feeling as miserable as I was at whatever size you are, it might be hard to imagine that you can change the way you feel so fast. But please remember that you will feel better even before you look better, because change does happen from the inside out and the fact that you put yourself in motion and are FINALLY doing something about it goes a long way!
{ 8 comments }
Suzy, I love your new wardrobe. But like I said to you the other day, I am too mean to be forced to spend loadsa money on new clothes. I like my clothes, I don’t want to have to say goodbye to them! They, like, my spare tyre, are old friends. What do you suggest? Jo
Jo, Make new friends & keep (a very select few of) the old 🙂 Once you lose those magic 6 kilos you are working on…there will be NO STOPPING YOU either and then hanging on to your old clothes will be the last thing on your mind. Think of a beautiful new SEXY summer dress instead!
Suzy, congratulations on your achievement! So impressive ! It’s very inspiring! I keep coming back to this blog for more!
Thank you for sharing your journey. I would love to know more when we meet in person. ( you probably get enough questions already!)
Thank you Vinita! I never tire of this subject and all questions are welcome:-) Hope to see you soon or feel free to fire away in the mean time!
Hi Suzy,
I love your posts. I would like to add that sometimes what stands between us and keeping fit is lack of motivation. So finding a way to motivate yourself can often be the answer. Here is my own recipe to get myself to the gym. I make sure that I go to bed reasonably early the night before. I avoid having any alcohol and instead drink water. Before I fall asleep I visualize myself getting up in the morning and putting on my fitness clothes, biking to the gym and doing my usual fitness routine, which involves running on the treadmill followed by weight training. I see myself going through the routine and feel the sense of achievement I will get at the completion of the session. I visualize a slimmer and lighter me. Usually this is enough to get me up the next day all motivated to do my fitness routine. This is my personal recipe and it works perfectly for me. Another person might use a different recipe. It doesn’t matter as long as it works.
Thank you for sharing your secret recipe Raiwa! Motivation is a huge factor that I am interested in diving into deeper. Visualization can go a long way. The award I was focused on winning might sound silly to some people, but every night while doing my last round of movements before going to bed…I visualized myself winning it, the slimmer, lighter me as you say. Visualizing this happening definitely helped make it happen! I look forward to hearing what works for other people!
Suzy,, Congratulations to your achievements, you really look great.
Thanks Ruby! Can you believe it? One of your friends didn’t recognize me at school the other day & wouldn’t believe it was me when May told her:-)