Sartorial Reprieve

While in Kelowna yesterday, I stopped at Value Village as I have occasionally had luck finding scarves there and came out with a half dozen! Woohoo! A few were of a nice silky material, so a bit dressier for work, although they are so slippery I'll need to hold them with barrettes.

Today, I wore comfortable jeans and an old top, but my bright blue scarf made me feel like I had a new outfit!

I washed them all yesterday in my Wonder Wash (setting it up in the shower) and got evidence of just why I feel gross whenever I leave Value Village: it took five rinses before the water ran clear. The scarves were filthy. Ew.

Bird on a Mission

I'm currently more overfat than I am comfortable being, so I've made it my goal for the next few months to lose what needs to be lost.

To kick start the program, I went on a very restrictive, low-calorie diet for four days, then moved on to a much more sustainable, long-term approach.

My normal diet isn't really that bad; the problem is portion control/moderation and over-indulgence. I've set a range of calories to aim for and am using two wonderful tools to keep me in line with that goal: Fit Day and Calorie Count.

Fit Day is a fantastic FREE online journal and tool box for getting fit. You can track your diet, exercise, weight goals, etc. I use it as a meal planning tool to project my calorie intake for the day so that I can know ahead of time if I can indulge in x, y, or z. I use Calorie Count to get nutritional data for foods that Fit Day doesn't have in its data base, like a lot of fast food and prepared foods.

Long-term meal planning has never worked for me, but so far the day-to-day projections are working out just fine. Nine days in, I'm right on track with my weight/fat loss, I feel amazing (my sleep requirements have shot right down!), my energy is through the roof, and I don't feel guilty about the insane amount of money I'm spending on groceries since 90% of the bill is for fresh fruits and veggies (romaine lettuce ain't cheap, folks, and a bird goes through a lot of it eating two salads a day)!

Best of all, I am a lot more conscious of what I eat and everything tastes soooooooooo good. This afternoon's snack of fresh pineapple was quite possibly the best thing I've ever eaten. That's a bonus result of this exercise--I've cut way back on sugar (only have a bit in my coffee, plus the odd piece of good quality chocolate); so fruit is really, really, really satisfying. I know a 'diet' is working when an apple qualifies as dessert.

I'll finish off this post with a bonus 'recipe' because lunch was so delicious.

Raven's Mini Grilled Tomato and Cheese Sandwiches

Cut eight thin slices from a baguette (loaf of 'French-style' bread, the long and thin kind).

Layer the following on four slices (base yourself on the baguette surface area to determine quantities):

-a thin slice of a small tomato;
-a sprinkle of salt;
-a small slice of tomato and basil Havarti;
-a basil leaf

Gently place in a non-stick pan and toast for about a minute on each side until the bread is golden and the cheese starts to melt.

Makes four. Serve with a great big salad.

Una mona que se viste de seda...

It's only in the last couple of years that I've had any real interest in clothes.

I was very heavy growing up and it was drilled into me that I was 'too fat' for it to be worth buying me 'nice' clothes. I dressed in jeans, tee-shirts, sweats, hiking boots and looked quite 'butch' with my short hair, even though there was a girly girl inside just dying to come out.

Time has passed, outdoorsy jobs have gone, and I now work in an office. And I have developped an Interest in Clothes.

I'm still heavy, but I'll always be a 'big girl', tall with big bones and developed muscles (I work out and run) so I accept myself the way I am. One of the biggest changes is that I decided that I wasn't going to stand my thinning hair anymore. I have alopecia and can see in my mother and grand-mother what my hair is going to look like. It's bad enough now. So, almost two years ago (hey, the day after I became Wiccan, huh), I got my first wig. Suddenly, I felt almost pretty! My clothing choices thereafter were quite different.

I'm not an attractive woman. In fact, when I take off my wig at night, I look like a guy in drag. While I have a massive bosom (and am on a waiting list for a breast reduction), I'm otherwise built like man, with narrow hips, no thighs, no butt. I used to think there was nothing that could be done for a woman like me and I shouldn't even bother. I didn't need to wear 'pretty things' to get a guy, so why bother?

Well, a year ago, I made a huge choice that has changed my life even more than the wig did: I stopped wearing pants! I realised that pants a) make me look fat because they don't fit properly (big stomach with no butt, hips or thighs, makes for ill-fitting pants); b) don't weather seasonal weight fluctuations; c) make me look masculine. So, I began to wear skirts. I now own dozens of skirts in all sorts of styles and for all sorts of weather. Like with all my clothes, I never, ever pay anything full price, so that's how I've been able to build my skirt wardrobe. Now, I always look cute and feminine, even if I'm wearing a boring top like a plain tee-shirt and flat shoes. Once people got over the shock of seeing in skirts all the time and stopped betting that would not last the winter (HA!), opinions began to trickle in that, hey, I was completely right.

And I never wore skirts because I was told they would make me look fat. Gee. I'm glad I stopped listening to that particular person.

Now, I need to build my tops wardrobe, but I'm waiting to have my reduction before I invest too much there. That said, I don't pass up any deals on tops, like the flirty little ruffled knit vest I picked up today for 10$, marked down from 59$! It's not something I'd normally wear, but I love the style, it goes with everything I own, it's a style I've always wanted to try, and it's good quality for only 10$.