Size 12 Power Suit

Ok, maybe not a power suit, because I needed the pants leg hem dropped... LOL

BUT I fit into a size 12 petite suit last Thursday. A gorgeous grey pin-striped number. I ran a workshop at the Orange County (NY) Chamber of Commerce. I'm waiting to see if there's going to be a photo in the online papers -- the Times Herald-Record was there. Someone at the chamber also had a camera. I want to see if there's a photo to send my mom....Oh boy, I hope that the paper has a better photo! :) LOL

I was running a business brainstorming workshop -- more about it here!

One Size fits me

174.6lbs. 36.5"waist, 45.25" hips. [Ed. oops, just noticed the typo -- I don't weigh 74lbs, nor do I ever want to!]

The way my body is built, I'll never have a 20" waist, but I'm going from "rather plump" to "pleasantly curvy" which is a change for the better.

I felt for the first time in a while like I could wear a dress yesterday -- 80 degrees, and I feel less than fat. A dress that would NOT fit me just last fall, now fits well and will only look better and better as I take off weight. I put on a different dress first, but while it fit, it was still too tight in the gut-hip area, where I'm carrying what my mom calls the family belly, so my daughter wore it.

I've been having discussions with my weight-loss partner (my mom) about rewards for a good job done on a diet, about feelings of entitlement when traveling or socializing. It's just not healthy to think that you spent so much money to go someplace you deserve to have a large meal (or dessert, or snacks, or...). The two are unrelated. Our society brainwashes us into thinking that white flour, sugar, potatoes are "rewards" and these messages are hammered into our head from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep.

If you spent a lot on a trip you should darned well enjoy the trip, enjoy healthy choices, enjoy your food, relax, get extra sleep, get some extra exercise in the pool or workout room, but don't think that you deserve to treat your body badly because you're spending some extra time away from home or with friends.

I spend a lot of money every month on networking events, often those events come with breakfast, lunch or dinner. I also go to committee meetings where the fare of the morning is donuts or bagels (I've come to call them the "donut meeting" and "bagel meeting" respectively when talking about them to my partner, just to really point out how ridiculous this "culture" is.) I can think to myself "Well, I pay my $400/year for membership in this chamber, so I deserve the free breakfast!" And that type of thinking can get me into much more than $400 of health concerns and illness, and new larger clothes purchases to accommodate my brainwashed mentality. Several members of said chamber are in trouble healthwise and taking drastic measures to change their weight, and I find that very very alarming. I drink my shake religiously before going, treat myself to an herbal tea when I get there, and instead of fussing with food, I pay attention to the meeting! I can network better without a mouth full of bagel anyway.

We need to reconsider what we put into our mouths. 500 years ago there WAS no white sugar, or white flour, or white rice. It's not in our genetic or metabolic make-up to properly handle them, much less "high-fructose corn syrup" and "hydrogenated fats". To watch our weight, every calorie that goes into our body has to carry nutrients with it, and any nonsense calories that go into our body aren't holding up to their end of the reasons we ingest food in the first place. High-glycemic foods like potatoes, sugar and white flour cause a bounce-back reaction that leads to cravings, and cravings lead to binge eating and overeating. I watch people put 3-4 spoons of sugar into their drink, eat 3 pieces of white-bread before eating a full dinner, a plate full of french fries, etc. I just have to choose differently than they do, not feel deprived. I think of those things as fat cells going right into their bodies, and they're far less appealing.

I miss those starchy sugary foods just like the next person would, but I know better. Even if it takes a lot of mental willpower, discipline, and self-talks to stay away, I know I can change my own mind about anything, and I'm determined to erase the nutritional brainwashing and damage done by our culture, so I can live a healthy and long life.

Next goal: halfway point: 166.0lbs - squarely size 16 pants, and the original broadway cast recording of Evita (my reward, a 2 album set). Not going out to dinner. Not dessert. Not ice cream.

The youngest bag lady!

I asked my partner to come to the grocery store with me, and he eventually gave in (muhahahah!), and on the way out the door he said we'd take his car because it was already clear of ice. Ok, no problem. Then I said "Oh, I have to get the bags out of my car!" He stops and looks at me funny. "Bags?" "Yeah, bags for the groceries."

At this point I'm a little puzzled by his reaction, he's looking a little incredulous, like he's indulging a weirdo at a funny farm. With a little shrug he's off to his car, and I fetch a bag -- full of bags -- and get into his car. I'm puzzling over what's so odd about bringing my own bags to the store.



Mind you I have one of the most eclectic collections of bags. I have many more bags, but here's a sample in a photo of the types of bags we're talking about -- the ones that were in my car on Saturday.

So we fill up a shopping cart with more things than we intended to buy, and at the register, I put 3 bags on the belt and start putting the groceries on the belt. The cashier nonchalantly takes the bags I offered and starts checking out groceries and filling the bags. It's a Redners, and they have a bag policy (2cents off for every bag you bring -- it's not much: it's the environment that matters). At this point, my partner is watching. When the guy is running out of bags, I hand him a few more. He uses one plastic bag for the yogurts (the ones with only a flimsy tin lid now that they've dropped the extra plastic one (yay!)) in case they leak. When he's done he tallies the bags in my cart, and refunds me. Never mind that the bags in my cart hold 2-3 times the number of groceries -- the point is still clear that we're saving something. Money, environment, whatever it takes to motivate people.

We leave with about 6 or 7 of MY bags full of groceries. We're putting them into the car, and finally it's all filtering in and digesting in my partner's brain. When we're unloading the car carrying 6 comfortable bags over our shoulders and in our hands, packed to the brim, instead of 15 flimsy plastic bags with tiny uncomfortable handles, half-filled because the stuff weighs too much for the bags to handle he finally gets it. By now he's muttering, "This is brilliant! I hate even touching the plastic bags. And they gave you a refund for them!" I'm not impressed about the $.12, but I chuckle knowingly.

I always loved to carry a backpack with me in the city. A notebook, a fiction book, pens, pencils, maybe a sweatshirt, and often an extra string bag. It always gave me a pleasurable feeling to tell merchants to skip the bag and toss something into the backpack. I've been doing it for years and years. That's how Europe works -- they don't do the whole massive plastic bag thing like the US. We think it's a major hassle to carry a bag around, but they fold up really small or the string bags easily stuff into a spare compartment of another bag. My bag-of-bags fits easily in my trunk, and is easy to grab the big bag's handle and run into the store.

I have string bags from food coops, a couple paper bags just because they're large and it's a shame to not reuse them a few times -- they also hold their shape really well for bread and other soft foods. I have a huge(!) shopping bag -- certainly a 3-4 bag capacity -- from Prisms Promotions, a local promotional products consultant. I have another smaller bag from the Sullivan (NY) County Chamber of Commerce that specifically talks about going green. A very large plastic bag (in case I purchase pillows or blankets -- craft store purchases, etc. fluffy light huge things or big boxes) from a wholesale liquidation outlet. I don't always remember to take my bags into stores, I'm trying to get better at it. If you add my collection of "gadgety bags" like messenger bags, waist pouches, briefcases, computer bags, etc. I really start to look like a bag lady. I even crocheted my own string bag, and create bags when I do craft projects. Just call me a bag lady!

What's all the fuss about?

Our planet is in trouble.  I'm trying desperately to get this point across, without sounding like someone shouting about doomsday on a soapbox.  I'll be heading out to Abundant Life Farm later in the month for the 2% Solution, but this is not the type of thing I wait to do.  I just get up (or in my case, sit on my fat duff) and do something about it.  Whether it's something to help the planet, or something to change my own life.

Picture this:  Lex Luthor (symbolic of all the multinational conglomerates and large industry -- and nations -- run by greedy barbarians disguised as men-about-town in their 3-piece suits) has our planet by the horns, and is driving humanity into extinction.  But what if there's no Superman to fly backwards and reverse time for us?  Oh, yeah, there isn't!  So what do we do?  Like proverbial lemmings we increase the rat race, head straight for a cliff and into our doom?  Well, yeah, as a species that's exactly what we do.  Am I the only person who finds that frustrating?

But as individuals we can each make a difference.  Change your shampoo.  Change your deodorant.  Bring shopping bags when you buy groceries.  Change a lightbulb.  That's all a good start.  Keep it up.  It's not just doing one thing each, try one thing a month -- then one thing a week.  Before you know it, you'll be doing one new GREEN thing a day.  Blog about it.  Shout about it.  Call your mom and have her join you on your mini crusade.  Feel good about it.  Celebrate it.  Wear it on your sleeve.  Brag about it.  Make being GREEN the next big IN thing (it is anyway, so get a head start before the runway models and supermarket rags realize it!).

Let's make being green a no-brainer.  Make it so easy to be green, it gets to be CHEAP to be green.  Yeah, it would take a few months, maybe a year, but take it to the point where NOT being green is like smoking in New York State.  People look at you like you've got 3 heads.  Where you used to stand outside puffing with the "In" crowd, now you're outside in the cold alone with your stained fingers and bad breath wondering when you missed the new health wave.

I want you to join me in Your Green Club.  It's about all of us.

So, I want to be a guinea pig for a bit.  I've been doing things different for a while, now I'm going to do thing differently and loudly.  I have the right lightbulbs, but maybe they're not in every socket in the house.  I have a box of ecologically friendly cleaning products on their way -- maybe I'll clean and blog and clean and blog and videotape and blog and you can see what I'm up to.  I'm going on an eco-friendly weight loss program.  I'll blog about it to you.  I'll let you know how it feels.  My next post will be a benchmark for my house.  Later, I'll benchmark about my weight.  Right now, I want to benchmark my state of mind.  More later.  Ciao, bella!