Size 16 Never Looked SO GOOD!

Exciting times!

Preparing for another 5k race on September 18th.  Decided a week ago to do it for sure and wish I had decided 5 weeks ago so I could be sure to be prepared!  I am finding, however, that my speed training has paid off so far.  I've improved my mile time by two minutes.  This sounds huge if you are a 10 min miler - but I'm not - I started as a 14:30 min miler and now I'm averaging around 12:30...only problem...I can't quite get past 2 miles!  So I have some work to do over the next 2 weeks to get there.  I'm going to try to run 5x a week until I get up to the distance even if I have to slow down a little bit.  The thing is, my body likes running around 11:30-12:00 min miles.  It feels most natural.  I just know I need to save some juice for the rest of the 3.1 miles!  :)

I went shopping at one of my favorite stores yesterday, Cato's.  I love Cato's.  Even when I was heavy a great portion of my wardrobe came from there - because the "big girl" clothes still looked cute and stylish.  I told Elizabeth last year when I started this journey that I would one day shop on the "other" side of the store, the "skinny" side. See, Cato's is divided by normal sized clothing (sizes 2-16) and plus sized clothing (14w-28w which by the way I always thought the "w" meant wide but my mom assures me it means womens. lol!)  The store is divided directly in half.  I used to look longingly at the normal side of the store wishing I was "normal."

Well, yesterday, 2 of my 3 purchases came from the skinny side of Cato's!  I bought a pair of size 16 jean capri's.  They fit me like a glove but don't look nasty (like muffin top camel toe nasty - everything is where it should be) so that's good.  :)  They are sort of meant to be like those skinny jeans people wear but in capri's.  They are so cute!  It was way exciting to get into a size 16.  I felt all of my 18s getting loose but was afraid to try on a 16 and be disappointed as sometimes since I am proportionate with my weight gain/loss it takes me longer to drop a size especially around the hips/butt/stomach.  Another 25 lbs and I'll be in the size 14 jeans that have been in my drawer, untouched for several years - with the tag still on them! I bought them when I was a 16 and then just got bigger.  I know now that I will get there...in time.

For now its nice to have a pair of capris, my last pair was a size 22 so you can see I went straight from jeans into shorts this summer...now I have a good pair of transition pants to fall.  Also both of my shirts were from the skinny side.  Man that feels so good!

At the register, there was a customer talking to the cashier and she looked at Elizabeth when she saw me put my clothes up on the counter she said "are you getting some new clothes little girl?"  I looked at the lady and told her they were mine - then I laughed and asked if they looked too young and hip for me?  She laughed and said no, but proceeded to pick up the pants and say, "I wish I could get into these."  I told her it was a first for me to be in that size, today.  That I had spent the last year trying working hard to get to that point and wore a size 24 a year ago. She said congratulations and she and the cashier were genuinely happy for me.  It was a nice moment shared with strangers.

Seriously - my jeans were a size 24 in August 2009.  I can't even comprehend that.  I didn't keep them - I gave them away with the rest of my 22/24 wardrobe to a family who lost everything in a fire and the mother was my size.  I thought about keeping them but knew she could get use out of them.

I figure I'll buy a pair of size 24s for $5 at the Vanity Fair outlet when I'm down to my goal weight to do the amazing and cliche "big jeans" picture. :)  Still have plenty of time for that.

So you may be reading this and have never been as big as a size 24 or 16 so its hard to identify.  But its like going from a 12 to a 4 if that helps.  No matter what, it feels amazing and I was on cloud nine after that clearance purchase.  And yes, I'm still only buying clearance or consignment since I'm not near my goal size yet...and in all honesty I am not sure what my goal size will be, or even weight for that matter.  My main "goal" is to get my BMI under 25.  To be out of the overweight and obese categories. I'm around 35.3 BMI right now - started at 47.  So we're a little over halfway there!  Weight I imagine I'll stop around 165 or so.  I'll probably be a size 10.  It all just depends on what my body feels like and how I perform athletically as well as my overall health.  Not pressuring myself too much about that yet.  Though, if I was...I'm halfway there!  lol.

So at 219, I am only 5 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.  I'm officially under my last "successful weight watchers" weight from 2006 (I literally weighed in at 220 for like 6 weeks in a row - I was on a serious maintenance streak for some reason).  Seriously, it has been 4 years since I weighed under the 220s.  It feels amazing.

I'm expecting another good loss this week due to where I am in my cycle (sorry guys if there are any reading this) and all the running I plan on doing. 

One other funny clothing side note - I need to buy new bras!  Not necessarily a cup size issue I don't think (though we'll see) but they are all too big even clasped at the tightest clasp.  I seriously need to fix that - and I won't be buying those on clearance though I hope they are on sale.  They should last me another 40 pounds or so - and I may buy where I need to clasp on the loosest clasp so I can grow down into them. :)

Weird things to think about as your body changes so dramatically.  It's all good though!  I'm feeling good and that is what matters.

Thanks for your support and following me on this journey.  It ain't over until the fat lady (me) decides to bust out a new blueprint changing song...hmmmm...maybe I should write a song about this?  In the meantime, here's a good theme song to my changing blueprint... :)   enjoy!  on my running playlist of course...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU2drg8FtBg

Later!
~Clara