Meausrement Update

Healthy You Challenge Check In #17

Starting Weight (5/13/09): 320 lbs.
Last Week's Weight: 299.8 lbs.
Current Weight: 298 lbs.

Weight lost this week: 1.8 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 22 lbs.

After days of eating wedding and vacation food, I have absolutely no idea how I lost any weight. My goal was to maintain, and at the very least no go back over 300. But yay, I lost 1.8 lbs this week. I'm thrilled, except that there's this nagging feeling in the back of my head telling me it will probably catch up to me next week. This coming week I have to be extra careful to make really good choices. I avoided a stall-out this week (even when I deserved one), but this week has to be about good eating, 2200 calories or less, and tons and tons of veggies.

Next week: updated measurements!

3 Fall Trends I'm Totally Stoked About

So Labor Day is over, along with one day to sleep off the hangover (whether literal or figurative). As much as I love summer, I'm getting really excited for fall. So excited that I jumped the gun on one of these trends, because I just couldn't wait until the weekend was over.

1. Belted Waists--this trend is so plus-size friendly. Instead of being one giant boob/torso/belly monster, you give yourself some definition and highlight your awesome curves. Once October rolls around (and I have some cash to spend) I'm going to be getting these two looks from Jessica London. I already have them added to my digital shopping cart, just waiting for the day when I can click the check-out button.

This one is the Shawl Collar Dress with Patent Belt, although I'm going to opt for teal.











This is the Sweetheart Neck Jacket Dress, and it just screams elegance at work. I can't wait to pair it with calf-high boots.











2. Red--Since I'll be broke after getting the two dresses above, I'm excited that red is this fall's hot color, because I can pull out this red cowl neck dress I got at Lane Bryant last year. I can subsitute a belt for the fabric chord to change it up a bit.







I also finally jumped on this clutch from GetReadySetGo that I've had my eye on for three months.









3. Dark Matte Nail Polish--This is the one that I just could not wait for. I'm currently wearing OPI's new "Susie Skis the Pyranese," described as a dark gray-blue, which makes my shorter-than-average nails look more substantial and elegant than normal. I also want to try OPI's dark emerald "Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow" and Essie's twilight blue "Midnight Cami." And of course, this fall I intend to go at least a week or two in solid black. I've never liked dark nail polish before. I've always been a french/purple/red kind of gal, but I'm ditching that this season to explore the deeper hues.

A Fat Reminder

Skinny people generally imagine that the fat person's brain works like this: a fat person floats along through life until they are informed that they are fat through some humiliating incident or another. This incident forges within them a resolve to lose weight. The person then either loses weight or goes into denial until the cycle repeats.

Now I don't know about other fat people, but for me this is the opposite of how my brain works. Every time I get embarrassed or humiliated, I deal with it. It doesn't make me want to lose weight. Instead, I get prouder of my emotional fortitude, smarter at coping, more adept with my personal solutions to the fat person's dilemmas. It's when I feel truly beautiful, shiek, well-dressed, and glamorous that I am most inspired to eat healthy and work out more. Momentum goes both ways.

Today I had one of those fat reminders. I flew to Malibu for a wedding, and both flights on Saturday went perfectly. My first flight today was the same. However, on the very last leg of my journey, I found myself in an airplane seat with a seat belt that wouldn't fasten. Three flight and the seat belt snapped easily, flight number four and it wouldn't budge. Worse, the two other passengers in my row were already seated, so I had to try and try to get it to close, sucking in my gut as far as it would go, wishing I could just disappear. My biggest fear was that the flight attendant would come by and say something before I was able to get it to fit. Finally, after an indemnible period of time, I heard the tell tale "click" that meant I wasn't the fattest woman on the planet. Poof, in one humiliating episode all the hours and hours of feeling gorgeous at the rehearsal and the wedding were gone. Everything that had me feeling so good the past month had vanished with it, and I felt like just another fat girl trying to fight the whole world for her right just to exist in peace. I spent the five hour flight avoiding the people in my row and flipping through my copy of Vogue pretending that any of the items in it might fit.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day, and after a very decadent four day trip, I doubt there will be any good news. However, I need to remember that I feel bad because of the stupid seat belt, and not because of anything else. One day I'll get on a plane and the thought that it might not snap won't even cross my mind. Until then, I gotta keep on chugging and not let stupid crap like this keep me down.

Vintage-Inspired Must Haves!

I have become totally obsessed with Mad Men, and thus I've been itching to get my hands on some lovely vintage pieces so I can rock it like Joan and Peggy. Of course, excellent plus-size vintage can be hard to come by, so I'm thinking of going in a different direction.

The vintage-inspired Daddyos.com selection is breath taking. How, after two solid years as a plus-size internet shopping fiend, have I not discovered this website before?

I've got my eye on three, and, while they are pricier, they are simply fantastic. I don't know which one (or two) I'll end up buying this fall, but here are the three I will be drooling over until my October bonus check clears.







These can be paired with sweaters for work or are perfect for going out as-is. They come in sizes up to 3x, but that means different things for different dresses. Fortunately, each dress lists measurements for each sizes. And since I can't afford any of them for two months, I have plenty of time to drool over each dress on the website while I make up my mind.

Healthy You Challenge Check In #16

Drank too much in New York this weekend (and ate too much pizza), but this week was still an awesome week. I've been cooking a lot of new recipes, and I've got photos to share whenever I get the photos uploaded.

To the numbers:

Starting Weight (5/13/09): 320 lbs.
Last Week's Weight: 301.8 lbs.
Current Weight: 299.8 lbs.

Weight lost this week: 2 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 20.2 lbs.

How stoked am I? Twenty pounds gone and the first digit on the scale was a 2! This has been my favorite weigh-in day by far.

Healthy You Challenge Check In #15

R's birthday ended in ice cream cake, so you can probably guess what day that was. Other than that, I ate a little more every day than I meant too, but I got my exercise in too.

Now for this week's weigh in:

Starting Weight (5/13/09): 320 lbs.
Last Week's Weight: 303 lbs.
Current Weight: 301.8 lbs.

Weight lost this week: 1.2 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 18.2 lbs.

Onward and downward.

Tea with Links

Just catching up on the internets and sipping some tea. Oh Sundays are so wonderful, aren't they?

I've been dying to make these Sweet and Sour Cucumbers from fitsugar.

I've also had my eye on this Pesto Squash recipe from allrecipes.com. Although on this one, I would cut the pesto in half.

Does it cost too much to be thin? (From The Daily Dish)

Without healthcare reform, health insurance premiums could double by 2020.

Yes, alcohol affects your sleep, but you probably didn't know that.

Healthy You Challenge Check In #14

It feels really good to have my activity minutes back up for the whole week. This morning at the gym, I rocked out on the elliptical to the latest Gossip album and had a great time. In a gym. Before 7am. Having fun. What's happening to me?



Now for this week's weigh in:

Starting Weight (5/13/09): 320 lbs.
Last Week's Weight: 304.8 lbs.
Current Weight: 303 lbs.

Weight lost this week: 1.8 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 17 lbs.

I'm so close to being out of the 300's I can taste it. The 300's can kiss my ass.

Smart Shopping Checklist

Yesterday I went to the grocery store near my house, and it took hours. Hours and hours and hours. I knew what I needed for the most part; however, between quitting meat, avoiding high fructose corn syrup, trans fat, trying more organics, etc., it takes so long to evaluate any new item I might want to try. Each product needs it's own deliberation. Either I can buy only things I've already bought and evaluated in the past, or I need to block off my entire Sunday afternoon for food shopping.

Neither of these plans seem exciting. I want to try new foods, but I want to get out of the store in a reasonable period of time. So I need a good checklist that I can take with me and go over quickly with each new food I encounter. I'm not talking about a grocery list of foods to buy. I usually go with one in hand. I'm talking about a list of questions to ask myself before I plop something new (or something old that I haven't had in a while) in my shopping cart.

Drop150's Smart Shopping Checklist:

1. Does it contain high fructose corn syrup? If yes, don't buy it.

2. Does it have trans fat or list "partially hydrogenated," "hydrogenated vegetable oil," or "shortening" on the ingredients list? If yes, don't buy it.

3. Is there a reasonable organic alternative?

4. Is it pescetarian? (Does it have meat, gelatin, animal fats, cochineal, rennet, or Carmine (Cochineal, E120, Natural Red 4, or C.I. 75470)? If yes, don't buy it.

5. Does the cheese contain enzymes are microbial or vegetable-based? Other cheeses might not be pescetarian.

5. Are the eggs from cage free chickens?

6. For dairy, is there a soy alternative?

7. Is there a whole grain version?

What are the questions you ask yourself when you shop? What other foods or ingredients do you avoid? Please share so I can refine this list before I try it out in a few weeks.