multi-hyphenated-me

Prancing is not a Christmas word.

Prancin’ is what I do when, after 23 days of detoxing, dieting and exercising, I am able to button jeans that are a size smaller than when I started.  Yes, I dropped a size.  In late October, these jeans had a good inch and a half to two inches of belly between the button and the buttonhole.   I don’t think I’ve worn these jeans in over two years.  I hesitated to even try them on this morning as there is nothing worse than clothes still not fitting after working so hard.   Instead, I buttoned those babies up, without lying down mind you and without lycra stretch, these are true blue jeans, and let out a whoop.

I woke the boys up for school this morning singing this song:

I’m prancin’

I’m prancin’

I’m prancin’ in my pants.

I’m prancin’

I’m prancin’

I’m prancin’ in my pants.

My children have little appreciation for me or my efforts but I was (and still am) ecstatic.  It’s quite a catchy tune that I’ve been singing to myself all day.  Truthfully, the jeans are buttoned, but the jeans are snug.  I can breathe, walk, squat and bend, they’re just snug.   I’ve worn them all day as a reminder to not lose focus.

Prancing is not a Christmas word, nor is it a Thanksgiving word.  I won’t be prancing in these pants on Thanksgiving because I’m allowing myself four days to enjoy my family and good food.  Though I don’t plan to overindulge, I do plan to indulge (did you see my menu?).  I will stick to my exercise program and include a pre-Thanksgiving dinner hike.  I’m not worrying about whether or not I will be able to wedge into these pants on Monday but I will be back on my dietary regiment and exercise track.

My success thus far has been a combination of diet changes and adding more exercise.  The first two weeks was Reboot Your Life, omitting wheat, dairy, meat, sugar, caffeine and alcohol.  Lots of fruits and vegetables, some salt and some olive oil.  These last two weeks, I allowed 2 eggs a week, yogurt with probiotics, and 1% milk. My caloric intake has been between 700-1000 calories.  I’m not perfect, nor was my diet (I have cookie grubbing kids in my house that lead me astray) but most days I was on track.  My exercise program involves walking 5 days a week 30-60 minutes, with weights and calisthenics on two of the walking days, leaving two days a week for recovery days with no exercise.

Before anyone comments on how low caloric diets are unhealthy, let’s be real, being overweight is unhealthy and that trumps all discussion.  Further, I feel good and that is all that matters.  Ok, the first few days I didn’t feel so good, but once my body acclimated, I have felt great.

I’m not fretting about numbers, the scale doesn’t matter.  Fitting into my clothes is what matters.  Hearing I have to lose 30 pounds sounds far more forever long impossible than I need to drop a size or two or three.

I still have a long road ahead and holiday festivities will be a challenge.  Right now I’m focusing on today.

Today, I’m prancin’, I’m prancin’, I’m prancin’ in my pants.