Thursday, March 10, 2016

Dresses and shopping with my mama

My mom had the sleeve surgery in December so we've been sharing our journeys together. My surgery was in October so I had a few months of learning and losing ahead of her. We decided to go shopping for clothes together today. I can't remember the last time we did that. I needed a new bra and am always looking for new, smaller clothes as the weight falls off. She needed some new clothes and new bra as well.

We met at a boutique where they do special bra fitting. I had dropped a few band sizes but the cup size was the same. I ended up getting one bra from there and I'll order some less expensive ones online. I'm not sure when I'll need to order a different size so I don't want to spend a lot of money on them yet.

We went to Cato - one of my favorite places to shop. Their stores are set up like Fashion Bug used to be where they have smaller sizes on one side and larger sizes on the other. Their clearance prices are wonderful (dresses for $6, pants for $4...I find some great deal there). I walked in and found a super cute spring outfit (black and bright yellow) hanging on the wall. I just had to try it on. I found all the pieces and tried them on and bought it. I rarely pay full price for clothing, but I just had to have that outfit. I did not take a picture, but I will when I wear it. My mom had some trouble finding things that fit well, so I just wandered and tried more things on. I was trying on a lot of size 14/16 in the larger section, so I asked the manager there (she's amazing too) what the difference was between the 14/16 on the larger side and the XL on the smaller side. She said they were mostly equivalent. I hopped over to the other side to see what was over there. Mostly the same styles, but there were some things that were not on the other side. A whole new world opened up for me.
This is one dress I bought (on clearance)...from the smaller sizes section of the store:


I just love the fit of it! It is actually sort of a sweater material.
Again, I forget most of the time to take pictures, so I don't have a picture of the other dress I bought.

We then went out to eat at TGI Fridays. I had a small portion of the wings (Parmesan Garlic). They were pretty good. They were a little greasy, but the flavor was delicious. I didn't have any trouble with them.
We went to Avenue after that. Mom was able to find a great shirt to go with her favorite leggings. I realized that the sizes there are all too big for me. Time to scratch that store off my list.
We had a great day shopping together. I spent the next day at her store helping and trying on clothes (like I always end up doing).

Here are a couple of other dresses that I have worn recently (I'm really digging wearing dresses):

This black and green dress was given to me by my mom.


This retro-style dress was one I purchased from Cato (in a size just a little too tight for me at the time) a while back (on clearance, of course). And, of course, the work bathroom selfies.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Onederland

Today is the day I officially hit Onederland.
Onederland?
Apparently it's a term used for when overweight people (weighing over 200 pounds) reach a weight of under 200 pounds.
My official weight today is 197.6 pounds.
It has been a long time since I've seen anything under 200 on the scale.
This makes a total of 74.4 pounds gone from my body.
That is a large number to me and I feel wonderful. I have much work to do to tone my body, but that will change when my work schedule changes at the end of April. I will be going to the gym with my boyfriend and riding bikes with him as well (as long as the weather cooperates).
I catch myself sneaking glimpses in mirrors and windows as I walk by them. I genuinely feel cute a lot of days. Life is good!

I have been terrible at taking pictures for milestones and did not take one on this day.
Pictures to come though.