Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1600  / 40.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    1793  /  45.5
Yesterday’s exercise:    20 min. elliptical
Weight Yesterday:: 244.4    Today:  243.8
Change today::  -0.6 lbs.   Loss-so-far:   41.4 lbs.  bmi:  46.07

I added a new number to my header today: my BMI.  This never used to mean anything to me before, but it sure does now.  When I started this weight-loss journey at 285.2 lbs, my bmi was 53.89 which means I was well into “morbidly obese.” 

Morbid.  If you look up the definition of morbid or morbidly, it means sickly or diseased.  The four different dictionaries at dictionary.com all refer to illness - but none of them come out and say what it really means:  “You’re gonna die.”  Yet they all do refer to the root word, “mori,” which means “to die.”  Interesting that dictionary definitions would spare us that ummm, morbid spin on the word - yet in its general usage in our English-speaking population, I would bet that’s how people understand it.  If it’s morbid, it means it’s on the road to death.  Or at least pertaining to death.  Yes?

Funny, I didn’t feel like I was dying.

But the truth of the matter is, I was well on my way.  And as far as the numbers game goes, I still am.  But hot-damn!!!  My death number is decreasing almost daily!!!

So I’m gonna keep it up there in the header all nice and big and pink (to match my cool bike, sterling, lol) and I’m gonna watch that number creep down and down until it’s no longer “morbidly obese” - just “obese.”  And then I’m gonna watch that number creep towards “overweight.”  And then, finally … to the “healthy weight” range.

———————–*————————

I screwed up last night.  Ever since the baby shower, there’s been leftover m&m’s on top of the microwave.  I didn’t look at ‘em.  I didn’t crave ‘em.  I didn’t think about ‘em.  Until last night, late.  They were calling to me and so I let myself have some macadamia nuts (high in calories but really low in carbs) thinking if I just had a snack the craving for the m&m’s would go away.  Didn’t work.  Finally I just said f*** it and had a handful.  Messed up my carbs for the day and sent my calories over too.

I’m thinking it’s because I had sugar.  I haven’t had an overwhelming crave like that for months and just now out of the blue I have one?  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this came so soon after taking Thanksgiving day “off.”  I need to be extra, extra careful about my sugar consumption until I have this back under control!

6001

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1600  / 40.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    1534  /  33.6
Yesterday’s exercise:    2.4 miles real bike + 20 min. elliptical
Weight Yesterday:: 245.4    Today:  244.4
Change today::  -1.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  40.8 lbs.

Earlier this week, one of my hubby’s best friends died.  It was totally unexpected.  Jim was 63 years old, active, still ran his own business (owned, maintained, and managed nine residential properties).  He was home alone, in his favorite chair, watching TV (probably football), when he fell asleep and never woke up.

Yesterday was the memorial service for Jim, and people took turns getting up and sharing stories.  My husband wanted to go up there but knew he’d break down into tears and so he just held my hand and didn’t budge.  “Besides,” he said later to a group of Jim’s men-friends and men-relatives, “there were children present and most of the stories I had about Jim couldn’t have been shared anyway.”  His comment was met with laughter and general sounds of agreement. 

Everyone at the service was just wrecked that this man who was so full of life and humor and love, could possibly be gone.

Jim’s sudden and unexpected passing saddened me, yes, but it also scared the hell outta me.  My husband is only 46 years old and is in general good health, but during his last checkup his doctor was worried about both his cholesterol and triglycerides levels.  I have tried to help him to lower his fatty food intake but he is such a picky eater that I honestly don’t know what to feed him. 

He eats chicken (battered and fried only, I can’t get him to even try “naked” grilled chicken), ham, hamburgers, spaghetti with meat sauce (won’t eat it without ground beef in it), hot dogs, fried bologna sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, macaroni & cheese, biscuits with sausage gravy, sausage, bacon, potato chips, french fries, mashed potatoes, corn niblets, corn on the cob, cheetohs, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and reese’s peanut butter cups.  Oh, and he’ll eat turkey once a year.  That’s it.  I can’t suggest other foods because he just won’t eat them.  Won’t.

Losing a loved one brings our own mortality to mind, and so yeah, I’m scared of losing him.  I talked to him about it yesterday after the memorial service and he said he didn’t know what to do about it either.  “I can’t eat rabbit food, you know that.” 

*Sigh.*  I know.

5918

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1600  / 40.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    Thanksgiving - no counting!
Yesterday’s exercise:    5 miles real bike!
Weight Yesterday:: 242.4    Today:  245.4
Change today::  +3.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  39.8 lbs.

Three pounds.  THREE.  In one day, I obliterated ten days of progress?!  Yes, I ate yesterday.  Yes, I ate whatever the hell I wanted to eat yesterday!  Yes, I totally enjoyed all the tastes I experienced but was it worth three whole pounds?!?  Three pounds seems a bit extreme, especially since I was feeling all proud of us for doing this:

We brought our bikes with us to my brother’s house and after our Thanksgiving feast we (Hubby and I plus our two sons who brought their bikes on the back of my older son’s car) went for a five-mile ride!  The first half of the ride we took our time, meandering through the unfamiliar neighborhood, but then on the way back we stepped it up and raced back to my brother’s house, worked up a sweat and everything.  It was wonderful and I’m thinking we should bring the bikes to every event which includes such a big meal (Christmas and Easter, too).

Still, though… three pounds?

Well … I haven’t ridden my bike in a while - I just went and looked and the last time was October 19, and the time before that was September 1st - so yeah - I’m a little rusty - and yeah - today my knees are feeling a bit swollen.  So maybe just maybe some of that three pounds is water.  Maybe.  Regardless, I’m definitely going to put in some time on the elliptical today.

I spent some time catching up on my blog-reading this morning and some people posted lists of the yummy foods they indulged in yesterday - those were fun to read!  I’m almost afraid to post my list because OMG I did indulge … but I will say that I took much smaller portions this year than I ever have before!  And at lunchtime ,with the exception of one extra helping of baked beans (and also a bit of dressing), I didn’t go back for seconds.  Anyway, I’m going to relive the experience while I write my list.  =D

Breakfast - two cinnamon rolls, fresh and hot from the oven.  Oh, and one glass of real milk.  I do miss real milk, a little.  (By “real milk,” I mean 2%.  The only milk I’ve had for 4 months is low-carb.  Urg - not the same.)

Lunch - turkey, gravy, dressing, baked beans, broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce, fruit salad, small helping of mashed potatoes, two dinner rolls, and a slice of chocolate-pudding-pie.

Snacks (throughout the seven hours we were there) - another slice of chocolate-pudding-pie, one mint oreo, one thin chocolate cookie, four cashews, and four dark chocolate m&m’s.  (In previous years I would have been grazing all day - my brother puts out snacks all over his house!)

Supper - turkey, gravy, dressing, baked beans, broccoli casserole, fruit salad.  No potatoes, no rolls (I decided to just stick with my favorite favorites).

Late Night Snack - I saved one last slice of chocolate-pudding-pie to have just before midnight.  (I left the other five leftover slices at my brother’s house so I wouldn’t be tempted beyond that!)

*Sigh*  It was fun while it lasted.  And I guess I’ll just have to wait to see what kind of impact it will all have in the long run.

5813

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    1345 / 34.9
Yesterday’s exercise:    none
Weight Yesterday:: 243.2    Today:  242.4
Change today::  -0.8 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  42.8 lbs.

In a comment to yesterday’s post, Joy asked me where one could purchase ketone testing strips.  My first thought was that I’d answer that question in today’s blog entry.  (Yes, I realize that it’s 4am the following day but since I haven’t been to sleep yet it sure feels like “today” still!)

(What am I doing up at 4 am?!?!  I had no idea it was that late.  Hey - Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!)

ANYWAY - as I was saying - I started out thinking I’d add a sentence or two to my blog entry to answer Joy’s question.  That’s all it would take - a sentence or two.  But then I had another thought.  And another one.  And before I knew it, I was well on my way to writing a freakin’ book.

And thus, we have Eileen still at her keyboard at 4 a.m.  =D

SO, please take a look at my brand-spankin’-new page I created…! 

EILEEN’S LOW-CARB SURVIVAL KIT:
http://3fatchicks.com/diet-blogs/eileen2blean/low-carb/

.

5665

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1400  / 30.0
Sunday’s calories & net carbs:   1208 / 24.3
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    1074 / 18.3
Sunday’s exercise:    none
Yesterday’s exercise:    9 loads of laundry  =D
Weight Sunday:: 243.4    Weight Yesterday:: 244.0    Today:  243.2
Change today::  -0.8 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  42.0 lbs.

Bawk-baaaawwwwk-bawk-bawk.  If you are what you eat, then I am a chicken.

I’ve eaten a lot of chicken lately!  Chicken and salads.  Tasty.  Filling.  Really low in calories.  So low that on days when I have grilled chicken twice, I barely log in a thousand calories.  One of the waitresses at the restaurant that we frequent asked me, “Has it been agony?  Do you walk around hungry all the time?”  I was like ohmygod no!  I’m seldom hungry and if I do get hungry it’s only because I forgot to eat.

What?  Eileen forgot to EAT?!?

I’ve forgotten to pay the electric bill.  I’ve forgotten to fill up my husband’s Jeep with gas.  I’ve even forgotten to charge my cell phone.  But EAT?  The old Eileen would never forget to eat.  The old Eileen waited for each new opportunity to eat, anticipating and planning the next meal/snack/hidden treat while still chewing and swallowing the current one.  Surely a person like that wouldn’t forget to EAT.  Ai-yi-yi!

——————————————————————–

A while back I found a store that sells low-carb bread and I was so excited!  Only 1g carb per slice, this bread was hearty and filling and yummy.  I bought a bunch of it and put it in my freezer. 

It wasn’t long after that, that I tested negative for ketosis.  I thought, “Crap!  Must have been the popcorn I’ve been eating!”  So I dropped my carbs for a couple days - and still, negative.  After about five days I finally figured out that it was something I was still eating.  Something that I was counting as low that maybe wasn’t so low. 

So I stopped eating the low-carb bread.  Bingo!  The stick turned purple-pink!  Darn!!!

So I’m back to baking.  Tonight I made low-carb rolls which will work for hamburger buns (woohooo gotta get me some ground turkey and make zeusburgers!) or sloppy-joe buns (got some sloppy joes in the fridge, gonna have that tomorrow!) or just for a nice bread-like treat with a salad.  They look good and are exactly the right texture - but they do have a bit of that carbquick/carbalose aftertaste.  *Sigh*  Bettah than nothin’ though!!

5544

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1600  / 40.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    1161 / 29.1
Yesterday’s exercise:    1 hr. walking (Bikefest)
Weight Yesterday:: 242.8    Today:  243.4
Change today::  +0.6 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  41.8 lbs.

Yesterday, Hubby and I went to the local annual Bikefest.  Hubby brought the camera and took pictures of certain bikes he was interested in, but never took a long shot of any of the streets, or of the big crowd that was there.  Here’s one of the pictures he took.

It was by far the most attended Bikefest our little burg has ever had, and the music was awesome!  They had a band up there that was doing ZZ Top hits (complete with fake beards, lol) and you woulda thought they were the real thing.  Then later they brought out an amazing band from Michigan (apparently we have to rely on northern imports here in the sunshine state).  They did songs by AC/DC, Ted Nugent, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Doobie Brothers - all old rock stuff that the crowd loved (including us)!  We walked around for an hour or more then sat down to watch the band.  I would have danced but my hubby is so not the dancing type.  =D

This morning when I got up and was standing in front of my dresser trying to decide what to wear - those jeans I tried on a while back caught my eye.  I didn’t really remember how long ago it was but still the questions occured to me:  Should I try them on again?  Is it too soon?

I looked it up later - but what I didn’t know was that I had last tried on those jeans on Halloween, October 31st.  Since today was November 23, that means it’s only been 3 weeks and 2 days since I tried them on and I could not zip them.  Could not.  Not even close.

Well, 3 weeks and 2 days later, those jeans just slid right on.  Zipped and buttoned them with no effort at all.  Woohooooo!!!  SOOOOOOOO, to celebrate, I wore the burgundy pair - with a pink shirt that I have not worn for years because my arms would not fit in the sleeves - and I decided that TODAY IS THE DAY!

I had my hubby take some progress pics of me. 

http://3fatchicks.com/diet-blogs/eileen2blean/pictures/

I even posted these pics on the 3FC message board under the 100 lb. club Progress Pics thread:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15563&page=18

FINALLY, I felt like I had lost enough weight to actually show a bit of a difference.

5430

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1600  / 40.0
Thursday’s calories & net carbs:   1549 / 36.9
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    1239 / 40.2
Thursday’s exercise:    25 minutes elliptical
Yesterday’s exercise:    90 minutes brisk walking
Weight Thursday:: 245.2    Weight Yesterday:: 244.6    Today:  242.8
Change today::  -1.8 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  42.4 lbs.

My 16-year-old son, Kevin, is such a cool person!  (All three of my kids are cool persons, but I’m allowed to gush over them one at a time, right?  Heheh.)

Yesterday I needed to return a rental car and the nearest Avis is about 7 miles away.  Kevin had long-boarded over to a friend’s house after school so I called him and asked him if he wanted me to pick him up and he could go with me to Avis.  “Sure, Mom,” he said without hesitation.  He told me later that when he got off the phone with me, he said to his friend, “If she’s returning a rental car, how are we going to get home?”  I travel often enough that he knows Enterprise will give you a ride but Avis doesn’t do that.

So when I picked him up, on the way to Avis I told him my plan:  I was going to return the rental car and then walk to the mall (just across the parking lot) and we’d go to the Food Court and have Bourbon Chicken (yummmmm).  Then after that… we’d see how far we could walk.

“Walk home from the mall?!”  He didn’t really know that it was 7 miles, but he knew it would be a helluva long walk.  In the dark.  In the cold (got down into the upper 40’s, that’s “really cold” to us Floridians).  And here he was, carrying his longboard (well it’s not actually his, he borrowed it from a friend).  His reaction to this plan:

“Awesome!”

He started watching out the window, looking at the sidewalks and the terrain along the route.  “That’ll be a perfect hill for the longboard!”  I told him I wanted him to enjoy the hills - but I would be walking so he’d have to wait for me at the bottom.  “Of course, Mom.  It’ll be fun!”  I also told him that when I couldn’t go any further - and I fully expected that this would occur because though I could easily bicycle 7 miles, I had no idea how far I could walk - I would call us a cab to take us the rest of the way home.

Only one hitch to this plan - he didn’t wear a jacket to his friend’s house.  So after we had our delicious bourbon chicken (I also had a big pile of broccoli with mine), we went into JC Penney to see if we could find a jacket on clearance.  (I bought him a new jacket for Christmas already so I didn’t wanna spend a bunch of money on another one!)  We did good.  We found a $50 fleece-lined hoodie which was marked down to $19.99. 

So we set off into the dark, through the parking lot of the mall (got stopped by a security guard who informed us that there are signs at each entrance that say “No Skateboarding.”  Oops!) and across the street to the sidewalk that runs along the highway.  This is an urban area, by the way, so there was plenty to look at and experience.  We talked and laughed as we made our way, him on the longboard and me doing a pretty brisk pace on foot. 

I felt good.  I felt alive!  And eventually, I felt cold!  About an hour into our walk, we stopped at Bob Evans for a break and a cup of coffee (and a little bowl of strawberries).  We played our dice game and talked and laughed some more.  Still in really good spirits, we set out again.  The temperature had dropped even further.  My ankles started to hurt, my knees were aching.  After about 30 minutes of walking, we came to a CVS Pharmacy.  I had a couple things I needed to pick up, so I did my shopping and called my cab.

Given my repeated problems with my knees, I didn’t want to push it further and end up “off my feet” and unable to exercise yet again! 

So I didn’t make it 7 miles, but it was 90 minutes of good exercise for me and I had a really great time with my son! 

CARTOON OF THE DAY

5361

Starting weight:  285.2
Tuesday’s Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1600  / 40.0
Tuesday’s calories & net carbs:   1550 / 34.9
Yesterday’s Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400 / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    975 / 25.8
Tuesday’s exercise:    10 minutes elliptical + sorta ran to work
Yesterday’s exercise:    baby shower  =D
Weight Tuesday:: 246.0    Weight Yesterday:: 245.2    Today:  245.2
Change today::  +0.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  40.0 lbs. 

Yesterday morning I hit a particular milestone…

I’ve lost a total of FORTY POUNDS!  WOOOHOOOOO!

 Yeeeeeeehawwww!!!!  I was so excited!  The wonderful thing about having lost 40 whole pounds is how I FEEL forty pounds lighter!  When I lean down to tie my shoes, I’m not struggling (as much!) to lean past the padding that was constricting my ability to move and breathe.  I still have so far to go, but forty pounds of fat off my frame is without a doubt - significant!!  Yayyyy!!!!

I was out of town last night, this time for a surprise baby shower.  I put it down as my exercise for yesterday because the work it took to pull it off was strenuous!  We went shopping at Sam’s club and bought sodas and plates and coffee and a bunch of other stuff which of course also came in huge packages and I ended up hauling stuff from van to shower to van again and so that was my weightlifting/exercise for the day. 

We (my coworkers and I) had planned a lovely turkey dinner for the shower and I had decided that even though I am taking Thanksgiving Day off from the diet, I was going to stick to plan through this event.  We ate lunch at Bob Evans on the way and I was careful - ordered grilled chicken, green beans, and cottage cheese.  Then last night’s turkey feast was awesome and I had plenty of low-carb choices:  turkey, gravy, green beans, salad from Olive Garden, and deviled eggs.  Yum!  I skipped the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, breadsticks, and cranberries (and the cake for dessert) but did not feel deprived at all. 

By the way, this (below) is the Puerto Rican turkey that I mentioned before!  And that is a sausage-based stuffing with plaintains.  I allowed myself a very small amount of that because it is just SO delicious!

Because I was out of town and the place where I stayed didn’t have internet access, I couldn’t track my calories!  So I was careful - lol a little too careful!  I partook in this wonderful feast - and only ate 975 calories the whole day!  Oops!

I’m slowly picking back up where I left off with the elliptical.  I put in only 10 minutes on Tuesday - but I made them count!  I went as fast as I could for that 10 minutes and actually worked up a sweat.  =D  Even though it was such a short workout that day, I did as planned and upped my limits by 200/10.  It felt really weird!

Then this evening I got on the elliptical and figured I’d go to 15 but I was cruising so fast and feeling so good that I went ahead and continued to the 25-minute-mark.  So far, so good - my knees aren’t hurting me!  (Crossing all my fingers!)

CARTOON OF THE DAY

5316

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs: 1320 / 34.8
Yesterday’s exercise:    5 minutes elliptical
 Weight Yesterday:: 246.0    Today:  246.0
Change today::  -0.0 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  39.2 lbs. 

Yesterday my knee was feeling pretty good so I decided to get on the elliptical just to see how it felt.  Immediately I could confirm that the pain I’d been experiencing was caused by that motion because I could feel it in that muscle on the backside of my knee.  I kept saying that it was tight, like a rubber-band stretched as far as it could stretch.  As soon as I started moving on the elliptical, that same muscle complained.  Loudly.

So I only stayed on for 5 minutes.  Five!  I felt like such a weinie, getting off after such a short little workout, but I wanted to be smart about using that knee.  I did not want to reverse any progress I’d made.  I was happy to discover when I went to bed last night, that I had no residual pain from my five minutes of effort.

This morning when I walked to work (I live one whole block from my office), it was so beautiful out (nice and cool!) that I just felt sooooooo good … that I decided out of the blue to try running.  I haven’t run, really, since my children were little - and even then, it was only out of occasional necessity (when one of them would take off and I had to chase after them).  I have, for so many years, had so much trouble walking, that I thought that certainly I can’t possibly run, not with all this weight on my frame.  But for some reason today I really wanted to try.

The first few steps were horrible!  The term “high impact” was an understatement!  Both of my knees protested quite vehemently that running was a really bad idea.  Bam! Bam! Bam!  It was like slamming a sledgehammer into each knee, one at a time.  Okay, so I stopped running and resumed walking.

It really bugged me that I couldn’t.  Just couldn’t do it.  Couldn’t run.  I can zoom along on the elliptical and feel great - and then spend the next week barely able to walk!  No!  I don’t want to live my life like this!  I want. To. Be. Able. To. RUN!!!!!

Pissed me off, so I tried again.  I know I was sporting a really weird gait - a self-protective-let-me-try-to-minimize-the-impact-jolt-kinda-gait, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to run.  A little bit.

I ran most of the way.  It’s only a block, but it’s more than I’ve even attempted in at least twenty years.

CARTOON OF THE DAY

5270

Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):       1400  / 30.0
Saturday’s calories & net carbs: 1252 / 37.0
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs: 1092 / 31.3
Saturday’s exercise:    2 hours shopping/walking
Yesterday’s exercise:    3 hours shopping/walking
Weight Saturday:: 247.2    Weight Yesterday:: 247.8    Today:  246.0
Change today::  -1.8 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  39.2 lbs. 

I stepped on the scale this morning.  Stepped off.  Stepped on again.  Stepped off.  I musta weighed myself five times and I kept getting the same result!  I lost almost 2 lbs in one day!  Woohoooo!

This should not surprise me, however.  I have been stalled ever since my problem started with my knee so I’ve been swelling and I knew eventually that would come down - AND - yesterday I had myself a little digestive issue… okay not so little, it was several hours of digestive issues.  You don’t want the details, LOL.  It actually prompted me to do a little research, though.  Aren’t you happy that I’m willing to share what I learned?  ROFL, I crack myself up!

Okay, my question was this:  WHAT THE HELL DID I EAT?!?!? that made me have such a problem?  Was it what I ate earlier in the day?  (Romaine salad with grilled chicken, greek dressing & feta) or was it what I ate the night before?  (Vegetable soup, Iceberg salad with grilled chicken and viniagrette, and three-freakin-cups of movie-theater-popcorn)  How long does it take to digest the food you eat and … ahem, get rid of it?  How many hours?

Here’s what I learned (and I’m gonna skip many of the juicier details, lol):  If everything is working right and assuming the person has consumed ample fluids, the average morsel of food takes 20-30 hours to … uh, come out the other end of the process.  The typical rule of thumb is 24 hours, but whenever a person eats, the brain triggers the digestive system to move things along to make way for “incoming!”  So something might hang around longer just because a person skips breakfast.  Isn’t that interesting?  LOL!

SO the answer to my question is *BINGBINGBING!*  “What is POPCORN for 200, Alex!”  (Can we all say it together:  DUH!!!  Heheh)  Movie theater popcorn which my husband drenched in movie-theater-fake-butter-greasy-stuff.  And there you have it.  One very powerful laxative for Eileen.  And a one-point-eight-pound loss for the day.  Ta-da!

Bet you’re glad you tuned in to this blog today!  LOL!

——————*—————*————–*——————-

Oh, something else I wanted to share today.  Hubby and I did a bunch of shopping this weekend and between stores we stopped at a couple of garage sales.  At this one, there was a rack of clothes and I usually ignore those at garage sales because there is never anything in “women’s sizes” (I usually just call them “fat people clothes,” after all, that’s what they are).  However, I happened to glance over and saw a really cute blouse that looked… large.  So I checked it out and it was 22/24, the exact size that I’m in right now.  I haven’t bought much clothes lately, partly because I have clothes already in that size and partly because I plan on shrinking out of that size soon.  But hey, at garage sale prices, it might be worth a look.

I ended up buying three very nice blouses (sizes 22 and 24) and two basically-brand-new blazers (size 26 but they must’ve run really small because there was another size 26 blazer there and it swam on me).  This lady came over to help me with the prices (nothing was marked) and she said something like, “That blouse was like $60 when I bought it…” so I asked her, “These are your clothes?”  She said yes, and I said, “You must’ve lost a lot of weight then!”  (She looked to be maybe a size 10 or 12.)  She confirmed that yes, she lost over 100 lbs… in just FIVE MONTHS!  Yikes!

So then we started talking.  In the meantime my husband was talking to her husband and they were yukking it up, I’m not sure about what, I was afraid to ask, lol, but anyway it was good that they were keeping busy because the lady and I chatted away for like 20 minutes.  So of course I was dying to know just one thing!  I asked her how she’d done it and her answer was … weird.  At least I thought it was. 

She said, “Oh, I went to Dr. Blahblah.”  (Blank stare from me.)  “You know, the really famous weight-loss doctor?”  (A shrug and a shake of my head, I didn’t recognize the name and don’t remember it now.)  “Well anyway,” she said, “he’s really expensive, but he definitely helped me to lose the weight.  My husband has no idea how much money I spent to lose 100 lbs. and I’m not ever going to tell him!  It cost me over $3000 in doctor’s visits alone and that’s not counting the other expenses involved.”  She never told me what those other expenses were.  In fact, she never told me much of anything else about how she lost the weight.  She dodged questions about the method involved but did share with me that as a result of the (likely poor) nutrition, her hair started falling out!  She showed me how thin her hair had become. I could see her scalp.

I’m thinking I’m really good with losing weight on my own, nice and slowly!

CARTOON OF THE DAY

This cartoon actually is about the Kimkins diet scam,
but it fit so well with my entry today I had to use it!

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