i'm starting with the [wo]man in the mirror.

Sometimes I feel like my weight is a collection of the food I've eaten. Like that banana I had for breakfast... its full weight will be reflected on the scale. Never mind its nutritional value or the the fuel it contributed to my metabolic process. It's just weight.

Don't get the wrong impression. I'm an intelligent, well-educated, reasonable individual, and I know damn well that there's more to that banana than calories and mass. But sometimes, just sometimes, I pick up an apple and think, "huh... that's a heavy apple" and I grab for a smaller one. True story.


My bestie and I have been supporting each other's weight processes for the better part of 8 years now. I say "weight processes" because there have been times that we encouraged binge eating, binge drinking, serial napping, as well as all the activities we've undertaken while trying to lose weight, too. We've been lamenting the differences in our lifestyles for years now, with promises that we'll "start working out together soon" or "I'll meet you in your city next week" or "we should plan weekly meals together." I'm sad (and not surprised) to say that it's never happened. But today we put our intellects together to come up with a solution that requires no extraordinary measures: texting. Instead of trying to coordinate our schedules, we're doing our own thing on our own time and texting each other about it. GENIUS.

Let me tell you why it's genius:

• We text all the time anyhow
  
• No driving required
  
• No schedule changes required
  
• Can be done anytime, anywhere
  
• And most importantly, we're challenging ourselves while still being accountable to the other person.
  

In other news, I've been going through my closet this week. There are items that I throw on that used to fit and now they're horribly baggy, and other items that I would avoid because they didn't fit that fit perfectly now. My closet is a mess. Today I tackled the large storage bin of pants/shorts that's been hiding under my bed. I don't care much for my legs so I avoid shorts, but summers in Iowa are brutal so shorts are unavoidable. With the weather forecasting temperatures in the mid 60s next week (!!) I thought this project would prove to be fruitful.

Quite. the. opposite.

None of my damn shorts fit anymore. I mean, there's so much extra fabric, and they barely cling to my body without falling down. There's no chance in hell most of these items will last another month, much less serve me through the summer. My first impulse is to go shopping, but I think I'm going to resist the urge and hold out for more weight loss. Running has made my legs happy beautiful (or, at least better looking than before) and it would tickle me pink to buy TWO sizes smaller instead of just going down one size.



Sometimes, I don't believe this is happening.