Measurements

Wow, it's been awhile since I've been here. That's really only because nothing new or exciting has been happening; even with the wedding coming up, summer has been pretty relaxed. I'm still running (though I've fallen off my schedule the last couple of weeks - back on it today!) and the wedding plans are coming along but it's all the little things now that, frankly, aren't that thrilling to talk about.

So life has been going on and I've been doing some shopping - because that's what I do - and I have realized that I need to get new bras desperately bad.

I've been meaning to go into a specialty lingerie store and get properly measured, but until I find the time for that, I did some measurements at home. Now, armed with a better idea of what my bra size actually is, I'm excited to go shopping again and to try on sizes that will actually fit!

While I had the tape measure out, I got bold and decided to do my hips. I'm not quite confident enough to share the numbers, but I wasn't completely horrified by my hip measurement, which was pleasantly surprising.

Then I measured my waist.

No way I'm sharing that number; it stung more than a little.

HOWEVER -

Armed with a hip measurement and a waist measurement I was able to calculate waist-hip ratio and see what that number meant in terms of my health. A higher waist-hip ratio can mean you have a higher risk for health problems like heart disease and type-II diabetes. So I plugged my measurements into a calculator and braced for the answer.

To my shock and surprise, my ratio puts me at LOW RISK! LOW RISK! I honestly thought that I had a higher risk - and this number doesn't take my family history of type-II diabetes into consideration - but based on my body composition, I'm okay.

The waist-hip ratio calculator had a link to a body fat calculator as well, so I figured in for a penny, in for a pound (ha!) and plugged in the numbers I needed to get my body fat percentage.

Again, shock and surprise at the outcome: I'm acceptable. Sure, it's not in the athletic range or high performance or anything, but still - I'M ACCEPTABLE! Again, I was expecting to be in the obese range so suddenly I'm feeling okay about myself.

Yes, I'd still like to slim down. Yes, I'm a little anxious over the fact that I haven't lost more weight before the wedding. Yes, I'm still freaking out about my double chin for my wedding photos.

But these numbers have definitely made me feel better about myself and have told me that I'm acceptable, just the way I am.

And so it begins

I've just finished weighing myself to start off my weight loss/savings challenge.

My starting weight: 200.2 lb.

I've also taken measurements:

Chest: 42.5"
Waist: 35"
Hips: 43.25"

I must say, I'm not thrilled with any of these numbers so this should act as extra incentive to eat better and exercise more.  I've also got to start paying more attention to portion sizes and how many servings I'm eating each day.

You know, the whole idea of being healthy seems so easy: just eat right and exercise.  The exercise part I'm good at; I use the gym in the condo and we've got equipment in our unit so I have no (real) excuse to not exercise.  But the eating part is kind of hard; portion sizes, calories, proper servings, sodium, fat, carbs...it's a lot to think about.

I can do this.  I can make the right changes and I can meet my goals and it will be awesome!

After all, I've got money riding on this.