Skinny Jeans Baby!!!!

The scales told me this morning that I'd lost another 1.5kg since Sunday.  This means I've lost 6.8kg since September 7th.  Now my scales are fairly new, but you never know with shop bought scales, that aren't calibrated regularly, how accurate they are.  Clothes however, rarely lie.  Phill stopped at the bank and I saw that he had to wait in a queue for the cashcard teller, Target is right next door so I ducked in there to have another look at the jeans.  The ones I have are size 18 but I've had them since 2006 or so and the stretch has gone out of them which happens with stretch jeans no matter how much you pay for them if you wear them enough, and I live in mine.  I held up a pair of 18s but they looked too big so I thought I'd try on the size 16 "skinny jeans" meaning they taper in from the waist down to a narrowish leg.  I couldn't believe that they not only fit me, but had a bit of room to spare.  I probably could have squeezed into a 14 but there's plenty of time for that.  It's probably about eight years since I could fit into a size 16 jeans, at my lowest weight (my upper goal range with WW) I was wearing stretch 14s. 

Ugh my mirror needs fixing AND cleaning.

 I used to call myself a "reverse anorexic".  That is, when I looked at myself  in the mirror, I saw me as I always had, healthy and the right weight.  Until I finally joined Weight Watchers in September 1999 and weighed in at a hefty 107.4kg .  As time went on and the weight came off, I lost over 33kg to get to my upper goal in late 2000, I would instinctively reach for the old sizes of things like undies and tights.  One time Phill pulled me up and said why are you buying that?  You're not that size anymore.  And he was right!  Funny how our mind plays tricks on us. So I am very happy today.  I changed my profile picture here with a dodgy one I took on the webcam yesterday and when I put it beside the old one that was only taken in January or so the difference (apart from me looking like a pinhead now) it's very noticeable.  The rapid loss I had in the first couple of weeks was mainly due to fluid loss which is common early in the weight loss process, and also the withdrawal of the sugars from the booze.  It's good that I am now slowing down to a healthy loss of between .5 and 1.5 per week.  Weightloss isn't an exact science, there are so many variables and bodily things to take into account. 

Anyway, while it's great to be lighter, and many of my symptoms have disappeared like most of my joint pain, my depression, my lethargy and my bloatedness, I just know I have to stay at a healthy weight simply to live as long as I can and raise my children and enjoy my grandchildren.
As I have said, I am lucky that I never really had food issues.  I'm not one for example to sit and eat an entire cheesecake, tub of icecream or even pizza (which was my weakness) for that matter.  Booze was my issue and my downfall.  Being affected by alcohol can cause us to eat more, and make poor food choices, often because the energy to cook healthy meals just isn't there.
I know from experience that now is the time to step up my exercise so I can keep my weight loss steady, keep my bones and whole body strong and later on, maintain a healthy weight.  Getting out for a walk used to be one of my big hurdles while on the WW programme, but once I'd donned the gear and got out the door I loved walking.  I think knowing our strengths and weaknesses well and finding ways to deal with them is half the battle with any goal we want to reach.
There is a round triangley rockery out in the backyard that's filled with red gravel.  I don't know what it was originally for but I have had this idea to make a succulents garden out of it.  I went out and dug about in it this morning, thinking I would shovel out the gravel, plant my plants and whack it back in.  But digging down I just found more rocks and then black plastic.  Phill said we just need to buy a heap of cacti in pots and cut holes in the plastic and plant them pot and all.  Smart man.  The nursery here had none (of course) so next time we go to Wagga we'll get a bunch of them and make our garden.
I got a punnet of flat leaf parsley for the spot in the pot where the tarragon was, and the rest in the bare patch under Em's window.
People all over town are out in their gardens and the nursery was quite crowded.  Spring is well underway in Cootamundra.