I started this year off on a mission to lose weight. I put together a plan that would span out for all of 2011 including mini goals, mid-year goals and final goals. There are rewards attached to 3 fairly big milestones that I thought would be pretty good incentives. All of them involve shopping and clothes and all of them required that I would not be allowed to buy any clothing until I reached those milestones.
Well… let’s be honest here. This foodaholic has had to make a major lifestyle change in order to make any of this work at all. What’s left of pleasure in my life if I axe my shopping addiction? I hit what WeightWatchers considers a “star” moment: I lost my first 5 lbs (5.4 lbs total to be exact). It took me a month which seems like an eternity when you want to see changes NOW. It was a nice moment for me to have my fellow meeting members clap for my achievement and was about as excited as my toddler is about stickers to receive my 5 lb sticker. Amazing that stickers as motivation actually works on adults too.
After a successful weigh in yesterday, I decided that I was going to break my original rule and buy a cute outfit to celebrate my success. It was a tough first month and I am insanely proud of myself for powering through it. I bought a super cute pair of jeans, cardigan & cami (and all under $100- thank you Gap for having such a wickedly awesome sale).
One of the reasons I felt as though I couldn’t shop was the fact that if I lose the amount of weight I am PLANNING to lose (yeah, not just hoping, I am PLANNING), these clothes are definitely not going to fit me 6-12 months from now, so why bother? Here is my justification: I want to look beautiful and wear beautiful things. For me, beauty is a state of mind and wearing clothes that look nice and feel nice makes me feel beautiful in the now. I refuse to deprive myself of having beauty! What to do with all of these too big clothes once I reach goal? I’ll likely donate the majority or bring them to a consignment shop. I’m sure I’ll keep some of it around, perhaps as a reminder or to have around should I be so lucky to get pregnant again.
Losing this first 5 lbs is a big deal to me. I proved to myself that I can do it and having a good loss this week was just the extra motivation I needed to keep pushing forward. I deserved this little fashion treat.
Friends, don’t deprive yourself of buying beautiful things. Be beautiful today.