Last day of sick leave

This is my last day of sick leave from the surgery. The fear of the surgery is long gone; the recovery is nearly complete. There are only a few restrictions left: no lifting really heavy things, no twisting, no swimming or hot tubbing. Except for the no lifting, all restrictions will be gone by mid-January. Now I have to continue on the weight loss journey without the fear factor. It's a challenge. I will keep writing in this blog, writing my food down in the journal, walking, resisting binges. I still feel pretty motivated because I want to get under 200, and I'm getting very close.

Today I walked two times around the track inside the local mall. I started the circuit in the food court so that when I got back around the second time I could have my double meat turkey salad at the Subway in the food court. That was delicious as always. Then I started out to walk one more time around the mall at a slow pace and stop in the stores for some shopping. I was determined to try on some clothes and try to find my size. I have learned that I am between sizes right now. I want some new slacks, so I went to TJ Maxx first and tried on a pair of 24w. They were HUGE! So I took back a pair in size 22w. They fit pretty well in the waist and hips, but the legs were like clown pants. Then I took back a pair of 20w. At least that's what the hanger said, but they were actually 18w and did not fit. I figured I was a 20, but I was tired of being in that store, so I moved on to Burlington Coat Factory. I took back three pairs of various styles of pants, including a pair of stretchy jeans, all in size 20w. Nothing fit. I couldn't zip up or button anything, although the legs were the right size. So I'm between 20 and 22 right now, I guess. Still it was disappointing not to buy any new pants. On the plus side, I am no longer a size 32w, which I most definitely was less than a year ago. And that size isn't even in any store!

I also treated myself to a new pair of shoes. I was trying on dressy heels for my show in January, but that got me nowhere. Shoes are either flat or four inches high! Why isn't there anything dressy with a reasonable heel height of two inches? I did find a cute pair of casual shoes which were just like things I had been drooling over in catalogs for awhile. Even though they were expensive (not as expensive as the cowboy boots!), I bought them as a splurge for myself. I also bought some Christmas cards and presents for Mark, Evey, and my Aunt Elsie.

From the food court to the Starbucks is about halfway around the track. That half took TWO HOURS with all the stopping and shopping! It was worth it and lots of fun. I treated myself to a Grande Sugar-Free Caramel Nonfat Latte (110 calories) and sat on a bench sipping it while I put my new shoes on. When I had finished half the latte, I gathered up all my packages, which were getting quite heavy by now, and walked in my new shoes all the way around the rest of the track and out to the car. It was a great day!

One funny thing did happen today. I noticed at lunch that I was wearing my husband's pants!! When I texted him that, his response was, "I'm speechless." Anyone who knows the two of us knows that we are nowhere near the same size, so how could I possibly be wearing his pants most of the day before I noticed! Well, we both have identical sweatpants from the bat mitzvah of our friends' daughter last January. Mark's are size L and really too big for him. Mine are size XL and didn't fit at all when I got them. After all the weight loss, I discovered they fit fine. Today I pulled them out of the clean clothes basket and put them on. Hm...I thought they felt a bit snugger than I remembered, but oh, well...I went on about the day. When I went to the ladies room at lunch in the mall, I decided to check the size tag. Ha Ha!! I'm wearing Mark's size L pants. I'm pretty excited that they fit. Why couldn't anything else in the store fit?