Idle Maintenance Musing

springlering62
springlering62 Posts: 9,975 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight

Putting on leggings yesterday morning, I realized they’ve faded and barely pass the “bend over” test any more. 

I was kind of cheesed off, til I realized, they are almost six years old, and have easily been used dozens and dozens and dozens of times.

Six years? Wowwwwwwwww. It’s gone so fast. The blink of an eye.

All that gnashing of teeth while obese, working hard to lose, working harder to regain some, working hardest of all to maintain.

I shouldn’t say that. It actually hasn’t been hard. If I need the occasional blowout, I take it as a necessary refueling, and just continue on. No harm done.

Vacation eating? Usually about a five pound gain. Simply return to a deficit til gone.

But it’s been so fast. One of the reasons I started was because I was so depressed inside my head that I was fast approaching being overweight or obese for half my life. For some reason, that was upsetting to me, and added to my determination. I’ve managed to whittle that 50% down to 37%, which is very satisfying.

I need to give myself slack in several areas. First, I need to give up my attitude of “I can get one more use out of these faded leggings/horrifically smelly sports bra/expensive and sadly discontinued LuLu racer tank”.

I need to stop looking and self critiquing when I pull leggings up, and all the extra skin comes riding up with them, til tucked in. For a brief moment every morning, I see Fat Gal in the mirror, and I have to suppress the surprise and pat my smaller, now tucked-in self for reassurance.

I was listening to a podcast by a British comedian yesterday who apparently also uses MFP. He made the comment that there’s always a “fat guy trying to get back out”.

Boy, if that didn’t peg it bang on the nose.

Anyways, I’m gobsmacked how old these leggings are. If they were daytime clothes, they’d have been worn out ages ago, but they are like war buddies. We’ve been through it together, we have. I almost feel like I should give them a burial with honors.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,855 Member

    Give them that burial! I say that's exactly the kind of thing I might do.

    I don't throw clothes out either. I have one favorite stretchy 3/4 sleeve navy blue top I love to wear on walks and it's been through multiple vinegar/baking soda/Febreeze/Spray-N-Wash cycles to keep it from smelling. Nothing will help the little stretched out sections that are nearly see-through. I just wear a camisole under it.

    Every time I'm in a store I look for a replacement.

    Inner fat girl, begone. ::oldschoolflowerforyou::

  • Fursian
    Fursian Posts: 654 Member

    I second the burial.

    I typically run things into the ground. They climb into the bins themselves to be put out of their misery.

    It is hard sometimes to remember how far we've come.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,526 Community Helper

    How about a ceremonial burning of the worn leggings? 😉😆 Put them on a wood slab, set on fire, push out into a pond as a small-scale Viking burial?

    So much truth and insight in your post, @springlering62 , not to mention the added pithy insights from others.

    Somewhere deep in my brain, I didn't expect to ever be here, 9+ years at a healthy weight after around 30 years of overweight/obesity. So many undercurrents in the culture saying this just isn't possible! I was infected with that thought, not really conscious of it. Like you, I've found it easier than I imagined, though not fall-off-log easy every second of course.

    Coincidentally, I'm at a similar spot. I tend to wear things until they fall apart, just downgrade them from in-public clothes to in-home or sleep or yardwork clothes. (NB, I live alone, so I'm more extreme in this than when my husband was alive . . . not that he would've rejected me, just that my standards were different. 😆) I'm sure my parents, who were adults during the 1930s depression, had a part in this, since they were avid reusers, recyclers, waste-avoiders - very good things, in my eyes.

    My rowing leggings are faded and stretched, wearing thin. I've had them for almost all of those 9 years - several pairs in rotation though, not just one. I need to find something new, and I've used the excuse that it's hard to find the type I like now, because everything is the tech fabrics I dislike wearing, and I hate to spend money on clothes. The current ones are Danskin ones I got at Walmart for a few bucks, no longer available, and they've survived amazingly well. But it's time.

    I repurposed my XL or XXL pre-loss rowing/workout leggings into homewear - I'm wearing a pair now. I just ran a cord through the waistband to make them into a yoga-pant-like fit. They're "still good". 😆 The current rowing ones? Not so much.

    Congratulations on your progress and success . . . through the loss, but also in the psychological evolution through maintenance. Wishing you many strong, active decades ahead . . . wearing the very special colorful leggings I know you love!

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,975 Member
    edited June 23

    I’m laughing because yesterday turned into one of those blowouts. Our doughnut shop has closed and we’re still trying to figure out what to do for Sunday breakfast. I ordered some of those doughnut pans and tried baking an own-version , higher protein model of the Ina Garten baked doughnuts. Lordamercy, were they AWFUL.

    Threw them out and instead of making a sandwich or something thought I could power through til lunch. After all, the few bites I had were like lead in my belly, right?

    Snacking began around 10, decided on a rest day, spent on the sofa beading, doing a few chores. Thought an early dinner might help, and then all hell broke loose. Hadn’t made any ice cream mix so I got in to everything. You name it. Down the gullet it went.

    I feel great this morning. Reenergized, full belly, pumped for trainer in a few minutes.

    We had an awesome walk this morning. A. K9 in a parked squad car barked aggressively at the High Anxiety Dog from one end of the block to the other. He danced skittishly, the ear went up and down uncontrollably, but he never barked back. Y’all, that’s a win. When he’s frightened he is very reactive. He got two cookies when we got home.

    That’s a great start to the day.

    It’s so hot, and he absorbs heat like a solar panel, he has not wanted to walk at all, other than his morning (curtailed version) walk, a few steps to the pocket park for a wee midafternoon, and another curtailed walk after the sun goes down. “Our” steps are way down. May walk a bit in the AC splendor at the gym track after swimming.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,975 Member

    After a successful trip last month, I came home same weight as I left. (My new def of “success”.)

    Fell right back into workouts and prior eating habits, with no problem

    But, I have suddenly hit a period where I’m just ravenous. I am constantly peckish. I’m also doing the hard-mid-day-naps again all of a sudden. Those are usually a sign I’m underfueling.

    I figure something must be up, because I’m seldom “hungry”, so have been eating til full. My body’s asking for it, and typically wouldn’t, without a reason.

    Unfortunately, it’s been “junk”. (Anything is junk in quantities). Yesterday it was vast quantities of cheese and crackers, and many sheets of chocolate graham crackers.

    I had a nice filling breakfast this morning- coffee, bacon and a shared Dutch baby Took the dog for a walk, and at the mile point, felt a little wobbly and unfocused, like I needed to eat something.

    Will have a couple of ginger chews for a quick lift before yoga. (I don’t log those because I limit myself to one or two a day, and they are less calories than some of the supplements I take. So I treat them like a necessary supplement, and “take” one when needed. )

    Mercy, I hope this lets up soon. I haven’t had this hungry feel since the very beginning of loss. Annual physical next week anyway, so well timed, I suppose.

    Rain starts mid afternoon An enforced break might be a good idea


    I don’t do things I don’t enjoy, but I enjoy a lot of stuff, and I ache when I sit for more than 30 minutes, so it’s incentive to stay up and moving anyway. But it is a lot, and I often wonder, what will I do when I’m not as “young” as I am now? Can’t keep the pace up forever, you know?

    I wonder if the new Celebrex prescription is making me hungry? If it makes me nauseous, hunger isn’t too far off that? Anyone else experience this with Celebrex?

    Sometimes I wonder if it’s not me, running from regaining, but me, punishing myself for being obese for so many years That’s a sobering thought.


    Man, five or six years in and maintenance is still a mind-kitten.

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 2,097 Member

    It's definitely a constant work in progress. Pisces must be in asparagus or something because I've been wanting to eat ALL the things too 🤣

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,526 Community Helper
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48721012#Comment_48721012

    That's got to be it!

    I've been ultra-crave-y lately, too.

    It can't be anything I'm doing - must be those darned stars. 😆

    In reality, in my case, pretty sure it's related to long-term sleep apnea, with around 6 weeks of worse than usual bad sleep after my CPAP broke and a struggle to work through the bureaucracy of getting a new one. It finally arrived a few days ago, but I'm still repaying sleep debt. Next phase: Resuming pre-nonsense habits that have frayed a bit during that interval. 🤷‍♀️

    Sympathies to you both!

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,975 Member

    Y'all are so funny! That explanation is as good as any. Except that now I’m craving some lemony, buttery asparagus.

    @cmriverside are you of an age to remember the book “Chariots of the Gods”?

    I read that as a kid. My dad had a very wide range of interests and I could read anything from his library I wanted to. He read the encyclopedia from A-Z twice. Always had a volume in the bathroom. 😂 and was on his third go around when he finally decided it was too outdated. The man could converse on any subject.

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,855 Member

    The Ancient Aliens TV show is actually really well done if you can suspend doubt for the duration. I mean, some of it is pretty plausible, some of it is a bit, "Eh, you say what now?"

    I didn't read Chariots of the Gods so I had no preconceived belief about the topic.

    I did grow up with a set of Encyclopedias in the dining room, Colliers. Didn't read them unless I had a school project. I remember there was a salesman who door-knocked us and sold them to my parents!

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