Shopping fun!

Today I went to Greenville to go shopping.  I desperately needed clothes.  Catherine's is my favorite place to shop.  I know the prices can be kinda high, but if you choose right, take advantage of sales, and use a Catherine's "Perks Card" it's not so bad.  Plus, it's at least a one-hour drive for me to get to Greenville, so I don't shop there often anyway.  What fun I had today though!!

Ladies and Gentlemen,  when I started this journey back in August I was wearing size 5X and 6X.  Now I'm wearing mostly 2X and some 3X depending on the cut of the garment.  Today I got a beautiful blue dress with a tropical batik print, cute shirts with matching capris, black slacks and sequined t-shirt, a pair of jeans, a beautiful 2-piece bathing suit (bottom with attached skirt and long top), and a lacy white see-through blouse with matching spaghetti-strap top underneath.  I also bought 3 pairs of earrings. 

One 2X dress I tried on looked beautiful and the colors were breath-taking, but the sleeves were so short you could see my flappy, flabby bat wings.  **sigh**  I also tried on a gorgeous rayon leopard print size 22 dress and it fit okay, but I thought it showed too many "bumps."  So, I tried on a body shaper to go under it, but after struggling to get it on and feeling the polyester/spandex against my skin (GROSS), I decided that if I had to go through that to make that dress look decent, it wasn't worth it. 

Honestly, I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to put up with wearing a body shaper or any other spandex-y thingie to hold in my drooping bits.  I just hated the way it felt next to my skin.  It felt like my skin couldn't breathe, as if I were wearing a plastic bag.  I can't stand wearing polyester.  I don't mind rayon and I don't mind cotton/polyester blends though.

Go girl! It is gonna get better and better. Dropping sizes is such fun. I wear tummy flattening panties and since my hernia surgery I have gotten use to a binder. I have found a binder like garment which is very comfy from Kohls. For me it helps keep the loose skin under control and makes me feel more secure.  But truthhfully that dress will be to big for you soon and you will find a prettier one. Congratulation on your success.
Myrtis

Congrats Meredith!  YOu are doing SOOOOO good!  You've come so far and you need to enjoy the WOWs of this wonderful journey you are on.  Move down sizes is definatley on of the tangible WOWs that we all celebrate.  As for the body shaper... all I can say is that I do wear Spanx or soemthing like that, with certain clothes and I feel much better when I do.  I agree with Myrtis, It feels much better to have that loose skin under control!

Again, congrats on your success my friend!  Keep up the great work, Alice

Sounds like you had a great shopping trip, hopefully you really got some good bargins since you probably will shrink out of those sizes is just a short time.

Congrats on your success

Sounds like fun Meredith.  Good for you.  Now that you have lost so much, how are you feeling?  How is your athritis? 
I was outside doing yard work most of the weekend.  It felt great to do strenuous work and be tired at the end of the day instead of 20 mins into it.  that is always what happened before.  Well, I got off track,  I was just going to say your shopping trip sounds like a lot more fun.  I bet you will look beautiful in all of your new clothes.

I am feeling really good.  But ya know, I'm taking weekly IV iron infusions, which is helping a lot.  My hip arthritis pain is mostly held a bay by the cortisone shot I had about a month or so ago.  But I still have pain late in the afternoon after I've been active and it feels stiff and sore if I sit for a long time, then try to get up.  I take pain medication (generic Ultracet) in the morning and afternoon, then take Hydrocodone liquid at night before bed.  I am really looking forward to a hip replacement!!!!!! 

Ya know, I think I'm gonna have my husband take pictures of me in my new clothes to post!  In another year or so y'all might see me on "America's Next Top Model"!!!!  (yeah, right!)

Meredith,

Congratulations and enjoy them while you still can.

It is so cool that you have been able to see such a difference.  I'm so happy for you!  I understand about the bumps and the shapers.  And, no, I don't have any advice about that - just know I understand.  Have you looked at any other kinds of shapers? 

Have you noticed that you are almost halfway to goal???  That's a WOW in itself!!!

Yep, I'm less than 2 lbs from my halfway point.  It looks like you're nearly halfway there too!!  My next milestone in also only about 5 lbs away:  20 points off my original BMI.  I'm marking EVERY milestone along the way.  When you have a long way to go, like I do, you have to break up the trip into little journeys.  Here all my other little "destinations" along the way:
BMI at 40 (148 lbs lost)
150 lbs lost, BMI in the 30s
2/3 to goal (171 lbs lost)
3/4 to goal (192 lbs lost)
200 lbs lost "two centuries mark"
half of me gone! (205.5 lbs lost)
enter ONEderland (broke 200, 212 lbs lost)
215 lbs lost, BMI in the 20s, considered just  "overweight" (not morbidly obese!)
247 lbs lost, enter upper end of "normal weight" range
GOAL (256 lbs lost)

If you can think of any other little goals I can insert along the way, let me know.  I like working toward the little goals along the way. 

Wow, that's quite a list!  That's great!  I hit my 50 lb mark and my onederland mark very close together.  I am going to have a day at the spa to celebrate that.  Thanks for the idea, by the way.  I bought the double dollar deal from WITN last week.  I told my mom about it thinking she and I could do it together and then she invited her sisters so I'm going with a friend instead.  How did your massage go?  I had forgotten about the BMI.  I'm down from 43.1 to 33.3.  I'll hit "overweight" in another 20 lbs!  I have 3 lbs to go until I'm halfway.  It is pretty cool to stop and think about these things.  Thank you for giving me something other than EOGs this week to think about.  Say a little prayer for my little girl tomorrow.  Her first state tests!  I'm more stressed than she is I think and it's much more stressful when your child takes it than when you are responsible for a classroom of kids taking it.