don't ask a woman how much she weighs

I’ve been toying with the idea of this post for a long while and I hope that I express it well. The question that I’ve gotten most frequently in the past few months is whether or not I’ve lost weight on my completely new diet. It’s a complex topic which is why I’m hoping I get it right.

The short answer is no. Or really, not a significant amount—what people might be thinking. I think I can safely say about 7-10 pounds, yes. This all started around the holidays, so I had been maybe 2-3 pounds more than usual, which is why it’s a not really, not significant amount.

There’s also the fact that I was on steroids for awhile to try to control my mold environmental allergy. I (and my sister also) am strongly affected by steroids with fluid retention. I had pitting edema in my legs, not something you should see in a twentysomething (pitting edema is where you can put your finger up against your shin and when you pull it away, there’s a ‘pit’ in the swelling—it’s common in older adults with heart failure). My weight fluctuated by a few pounds here and there throughout the spring when I would go off the steroids in February but have to go back on in March when my seasonal allergies got bad.

Where this gets complex is the fact that my clothes fit a lot better. I usually have two sizes of jeans to wear on a regular basis, and I’ve already ditched the bigger size and have recently started buying jeans/pants in a size smaller than what I’ve been buying forever. I’ve always had trouble with buying pants because I have a curvaceous body and my waist size doesn’t fit with my hip size. I said I’m buying a smaller jean size anyway—and it’ll be the smallest size I could buy anyway. When I button them, they pull tight across my hipbones, but are loose about the waist.

I can clearly say I’ve lost a dress size. But…the number on the scale has hardly changed.

I’ve had a number of people say to me that I ‘look’ different. It’s not quantifiable, but that I look slimmer. I’ve even been called skinny, which made me smile and nod at the person but my mind was boggled.

The fact of the matter is that while it’s nice to buy new clothes in a smaller size and that fits well with my feminine vanity, I feel better. I like the way I look most days, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the number on the scale OR the number on a tag on my clothes. I feel good, I have energy to do the things I love, and I haven’t had to give up eating sweets completely. I wear clothes that flatter the figure that I do have and I have come to grips with the fact that I have hips and thighs (it only took about twenty years to get to this point!).

So yes, I have lost weight. But it’s also a no, not really. I can say that I have no worries about my cholesterol or my blood pressure because I can’t eat processed foods. I have cut back my risk factors for a number of bad diseases by eliminating meat from my diet and adding in much more fiber. This is what matters more to me than any quick weight loss…isn’t it always harder to keep it off anyway? I’m making better choices that will serve me better in the long run.

It’s been about six (closer to seven, holy moly time flies!) months since this all started…so maybe we’ll see at Christmas. Or next summer. Or just keep on with the feeling good, looking good attitude.