Category — Weight Loss

I am not one of those girls who decided a year or two ago that leggings are the thing to wear. I am definitely not one of those girls who think that leggings are pants. However, I do have to confess that yesterday, I bought my very first pair of (capri) leggings. I know.

But you know what? They are great.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am overweight. And most of my extra weight goes into my thighs (as well as my upper arms unfortunately). Which presents me with not one, but two problems in the summer.

1) Chubby thighs – I have huge thighs. Especially with the extra weight I have gained in the past few months, there is no way I will wear a dress (or shorts) ending above my knees. I do have huge calves as well but well, but above the knee is where the chub really starts, as well as the cellulite. I have been looking for summer dresses that are longer than knee length but have had a really hard time finding one that is that does not have spaghetti straps. This is where my upper arms come into play. They may be big but wearing a shirt with spaghetti straps is like drawing a big red exclamation mark on them, so I’ve been trying to avoid them.

2) Chub rub – I have been told that this is not necessarily a problem of overweight girls per se, but I do have to deal with it. My inner thighs touch, and if I wear a skirt or a dress without tights, well, let’s just say, it’s very very painful. No dress is worth that pain. For a very long time, my solution to that was not to wear dresses and skirts. For years I never wore them, even though I did like them. Last year I invested in a pair of pantyhose which ends above the knee which is great as it prevents the chafing but you can’t tell I’m wearing it. This works great for skirts and dresses that go past the knee paired with shoes that you can’t really wear pantyhose with.

So, leggings. They allow me to choose from a wider range of dresses as they cover my thighs nicely and they prevent the chafing just like pantyhose does. Double-score! And this? Is why I kind of don’t give a crap whether the dress would look nicer without the leggings because on me, it certainly wouldn’t.

Yesterday, I bought a pair of leggings, and two dresses I would not have bought otherwise. And that? Is awesome. Would the dresses look nicer on a skinnier person? Probably. Did these pictures make me think (again), gosh, Karen, you really have to lose weight? Definitely. But right now, this is what I have, and I know I will be wearing these two dresses as soon as I can.

Do you have to deal with any of these issues, and if so, what are your solutions? And what is your take on wearing leggings under dresses, yay or nay?

Weight loss has been a permanent concern for me in the past five years. I have never been skinny, but until I started college my weight was still within a healthy range. 4.5 years ago I started doing Weight Watchers, and lost a huge amount of weight but I did not manage to keep it off permanently. For the past year I have been in the same weight range that I originally started out in, sometimes 10 pounds lighter, but always overweight. In December I started the new Weight Watchers program that had just been introduced here. I thought it would give me new motivation to try a new program, something that I didn’t already know in my sleep.

Well, I only did really well for a few weeks, and then made too many exceptions. I was still losing weight, though. Very slowly but the trend was downward. Then March came around and I started studying for my exams. I completely abandoned Weight Watchers. I thought I would just try to eat as healthy as possible while allowing myself more ready-made meals (such as frozen pizzas) on the days when I had no time or energy to cook. Unfortunately, I am really bad at this, you know, allowing myself a little, but not all.

And I should know. For me it is either do Weight Watchers strictly and with no exceptions or I will go way overboard with the junk food (I am not talking McDonald’s or Pizza Hut as I hardly ever eat that but frozen pizzas, chocolate, and chips). I can usually not keep a healthy balance for very long without keeping myself accountable with the help of counting points.

I hate that about myself. Because that is really the key to changing my life style. I do not want to have to count points for the rest of my life. I want a healthy lifestyle to come naturally. I want to want to pick the healthy food option at a restaurant without feeling like I am missing out. I want to be able to say, ‘no thanks I don’t want that chocolate.’ And not be lying. I admire people who genuinely have no interest in chocolate or cookies at times. Who can say no thanks and mean it. Who will not be taking peeks at the box of donuts at work that a co-worker brought and want another one. Because I? Would love another donut, another piece of chocolate, another handful of chips!

That is why when I do WW properly, I have no chips or chocolate (though I do sometimes buy the dark 80% cocoa one as I don’t like it as much), and I do not even bother buying any of the food I can’t say no to. But in the past weeks? I have probably consumed more chips than in the past two years. Originally, my plan was just to focus on exams and not worry about my weight until exams are over, but I have already gained 7 pounds over the past 7 weeks, and if I keep up that rate I will end up at a weight I don’t think I have ever been by the time I am done with my exams in another eight weeks. And I really do not want that. I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to have to start there in July.

That is why I decided that even though I am busy studying for exams, I will just have to do Weight Watchers again. I will just have to invest the extra time in cooking and I will have to cut all the pizza and chips out of my diet again. I clearly am not capable of holding a healthy balance without controlling myself right now, so I will have to control my food intake. I started doing Weight Watchers again on Thursday (I never actually canceled my subscription) and while the past week has not really been on plan due to the large amount of food I still had in the fridge that isn’t quite weight loss compatible, I think I am on the right path. And I will simply be disciplined in the grocery store again. I know I can do that and that it is easier than you’d think once I’m in the right mindset. I can say no. I just really have to say no. I cannot buy a bar of chocolate and plan on just eating one piece a day, because guess what? That’s not going to happen.

I also have to go back to the gym. I have not been since the end of January. In February I went home for a couple of weeks and I have not been at the gym since. Just like with Weight Watchers, I keep paying for my membership but I am not using it. And that is something else that I need to do again. While I am still busy with exams, I doubt I will be going more than twice a week, but even once or twice is more than what I have been doing in the past 4 months.

So this? Is me committing to this. I will keep posting semi-regular updates on my progress on here. My weight loss blog is still temporarily (and possibly permanently) abandoned, as it is too hard for me to keep up with two blogs right now (and possibly always). Will you help me keep myself accountable?

How is this spring going for you in terms of weight loss, working out & living healthily? Are you sticking to your goals or have you been slacking off lately as well? If so, want to join me in recommitting to our goals?