Weigh In: Non scale victories

I haven't done much clothing shopping since starting my health kick and dropping 45 pounds. My closet already contained a variety of sizes so I just periodically shopped through the closet and downsized my pants.   

As my size 14 work slacks started getting baggier, I tried shopping for 12s in my closet.  Everything was either too casual or to hideously outdated.  I can't decide if I just dressed that awful or if it's just been that long since I fit in a size 12.   Neither is a great option.  I stuck with the 14s planning to actually drop some cash on new pants.  I knew it would require some time in the dressing room to try things on and never seemed to find time for it.

Then I found myself in the bathroom at work rolling the waist of my size 14s to keep them from sliding off.  Have you ever tried to act professional and maintain and air of authority while constantly pulling your slacks up.  Well, I have and it's rough going.  Even a belt to cinch the waist just looked ridiculous.  New pants became mission essential.

So I did some time at Kohls and loved that the 12s all fit comfortably.  Not tight.  Not snug.  But a really comfortable and dare I say roomy fit.  That was a very fun day.   A definite non scale victory kind of day.  I didn't even think there was a way to improve on that victory until I put the pants on the next day to get dressed for work and decided to browse my multi-size closet for a shirt that might do something other than hang off of me.  

I located a shirt I happen to know for a fact I wore 10 years ago.  It's insane that I've owned a shirt that long.  It's extra insane that I decided it looked better than half of the over-sized crap in my closet and left the house in it that very day.  It's quadruple insane that I took a photo while wearing it a la the popular #OOTD (Outfit of the Day) hash tag on Instagram.

There should be a special hash tag for fashion train wrecks like me with bland 10 year old crap they're just happy fits and doesn't have sticky fingerprints on it when they get to work.  I like to think of it as #COOTD (Crappy outfit of the day).  Since my recent promotion, I've also periodically thought of it as #CMMOOTD (Crappy middle management outfit of the day).  The difference between the two primarily being the name since I dress just as crappy as I ever have.

But I digress.  So I'm photographing my #CMMOOTD and my pea brain connects the dots that if I wore that shirt 10 years ago, I had to have been wearing it when I was 10 pounds lighter than I am today.  And then it dawned on me that I wore size 12s when I was 10 pounds lighter than I am today.

And that's when I realized I'm clearly in the best shape of my life.

There have been days in my life that I weighed less.  There have been days in my life where I wore sizes smaller than a 12.  There have been days in my life when my stomach was flatter. 

But I have never been as healthy and physically fit as I am today.   Hands down.

And I smiled the whole rest of the day. 

It's been an especially nice non scale victory because I recently hit a bit of a plateau on the scale.  It's only been the last week or two but frustrating when I'm eating healthy and the most exciting thing I've shoveled into my face is hummus.  Hummus.   No, really.  Hummus.  The words "hummus" and "exciting" are rarely used in the same sentence.   And if your scale isn't moving, you should at least get to say you inhaled some McDonald's french fries somewhere along the way.

Non scale victories make weathering plateaus infinitely more doable.  They also make McDonald's french fries seem like stupid things to even think about. They help make it clear that your hard work really is getting you somewhere.

All hail the mighty non scale victories.