LITTLE THINGS
11 April 2003
While I already wrote my entry for this month's On
Display Collab (which has as its topic, "little things"), I was thinking
about this entry and realized that it, too, could come under that heading.
When I got to Curves this morning (boy, is it easier to exercise before work than after
work!) they finally had their computer system up and running. For the first week that I
belonged, nobody took attendance. It's such a small place, that I suspect someone just
passing by for a workout would have been picked out, but nobody took down names. We just
showed up and started exercising.
This week they finally moved into the permanent quarters, which are still under
decoration, but we now have about twice as much room and it's time to start getting
organized. But the computer wasn't working, so we had a sign-in sheet for the first day.
This morning when I arrived and started to sign in, Melody, the girl who stands in the
middle of the circle to make sure we're exercising properly (I told her I'm going to get
her a whip) said that our key tags were ready. Now I have a hard plastic
"curves" tag to put on my keychain to be scanned whenever I arrive. Makes me
feel all "jockette" and stuff.
But the thing about it is that just last week, I got a similar key tag for the Davis
Athletic Club and when I went to put the Curves tag on, I realized that I had put both of
them on my WeightWatchers keychain, which I got when I reached my 10% goal. Wow--what a
story my keychain tells! (I should go buy a belt clip that I saw yesterday, which has a
little cutesy sign on it that says "I love biking," and be complete about it!).
I finished my workout, stopped at the supermarket to pick up some stuff for lunch (V-8
juice and yogurt--I have gotten out of the habit of V-8 juice and need to get back into
the habit again--good for me and zero points) and then came to the office, bringing with
me the bag that had my work clothes in it (nice to work in an office where it's easy to
change clothes).
As I got out of the exercise outfit and into my dressier stuff, I realized the change that
has taken place, not only in how many "health-related" things I carry on my
keychain, but on my dressing habits.
When you're fat, you don't have a lot of clothes. Nothing fits right, you look terrible in
the mirrors of dressing rooms, and you don't much care about your appearance anyway, most
of the time, so what's the point? I had two or three things that didn't look as bad as
most everything else, and I just wore them all the time, sometimes in rotation, sometime
for several days at a time, with washings as appropriate. My work clothes, dress clothes,
and lounging clothes (I won't say "play clothes" because I didn't play) were all
the same. Theatre or watching TV, sleeping or shopping--pretty much it was all the same.
But then I started losing weight, and my wardrobe started to grow. And then my activity
level started to grow. I got a real job. It made a difference. Now I have good clothes and
play clothes and lounging clothes. I have work-out clothes and biking clothes. I even have
good shoes and exercise shoes (I never had more than a couple of pairs of shoes at any one
time).
Now not only do I wear different things every day, I may change my clothes several times
each day.
For example, last night I came home from work and got out of my work clothes and got into
sweatpants and a t-shirt. I've discovered that in the wintertime, when it's cold,
sweatpants are great in the evening and since I found them on sale for $5 each (tops and
bottoms), I have several sets. Also I'm now wearing all those t-shirts I've been
accumulating for years that I never could comfortably wear before.
So I put on my lounging outfit. I also had been up very early and had a very busy day at
work, so I sat down to watch Hollywood Squares and fell asleep. The nice thing about
sleeping in a recliner is that you can sleep in your lounging clothes. And when you get up
in the morning, on a cold morning, you can go biking in your "pajamas," as it
were!
So I slept through the night in my sweats and then went biking in them, only needing to
add my grungy exercise shoes. When I got home, I was all hot and sweaty, so I took off the
sweats and put on lighter weight pants and t-shirt.
At 11, I went to Curves, and as it was starting to warm up by then, I changed into shorts.
I did my 30 minute work-out and came to the office, where I've dressed in slacks and a
nice top and my loafers, with appropriate sox (I've changed sox too).
Tonight I'm reviewing my first show at the fancy new Mondavi Center, so I will probably
put on something a little more dressy to go to that, then come home, change back into the
sweats while I write my review and then start the whole process all over again. By next
week I'll probably be adding a change into a bathing suit for some lap swimming as well.
If this were a year and a half ago, I (a) wouldn't be working, (b) wouldn't be biking, (c)
wouldn't be exercising, and possibly (d) wouldn't be reviewing. I'd just be wearing a
muumuu that was too tight on me (can you imagine being too big for a muumuu?) and wear it
until it was time to wash it.
Boy is this life better than what I was living a year and a half ago (except that I seem
to be spending all of my time changing clothes)!! |
