The Vegan Writer's Journal to Weight Loss

Author Michelle McGriff gives readers an upclose and personal look at her weight loss struggle. Her goal is to reduce the risk for diabetes which run rampant in her family as well as hypertension and other silent killers.

Well I did it, I got under 200 pounds. I’m so excited and I’m sure my Sweetie is too! But as you all know, I really did do this for me…however, the kudos from friends and family and loved ones has been a plus! I never want to be over 200 again! I still have about 15 to 20 pounds to go and I’m aiming for January to reach my goal. I feel good. I got my hair done and so I know I’m looking better and along with my healthcare (taking supplements and getting off my butt) I know I AM better.

Since my last update I’ve also turned 50…whohooo! It was a great hurdle and it’s been a wonderful experience…so far. I’m in love and working hard to keep my stress down despite having a new job, of which, I'm not too fond. Amsterdam is still calling my name and I SURE can’t wait to answer! I'm on the waiting list with a business school there to teach...and I'm STOKED big time.

But ….onto something even more important… clothes! Here we are, between a rock and a hard place… or better said in the weight loss world… stuck between two sizes and an abundance of ill-fitted but ‘well loved’ clothing. What to do? What to do? My first thought was to simply throw out the big, un-box the small and re-shop! Wow! Sounds wonderful and fun—oh yeah, and expensive. In this economy, seriously who really has money to go out and buy all new clothes? And who are we kidding, if you are a clothes Horse, you will also want the shoes to match. Ugh, starting over is hard.

No matter if its divorce, a move, or just getting a new desk location at work, starting over is hard under any circumstances. It’s kinda scary too. We have a fear of backwards motion, or failure or worse… a return to the familiar. For these reasons, I believe people put off change as long as possible. In the area of weight loss, the same is true. It’s a change. For some it’s huge! It can mean a change of life, and a move into the ‘pretty world’ with all the headache that brings—men, jobs, friends, etc… For some it means, being able to just ‘move around’…which is scary if you didn’t do it before.

But for the most of us, it simply means—a change of wardrobe. Many of us ‘middle of the road’ weight losers; end up losing more weight than intended. We start out wanting to shed a few pounds in order to ‘fit’ our clothes and end up losing twice as much maybe even three times as much. This loss puts us back in and on ‘out’ of our current wardrobe.

We seem to get SO happy when we zip up that zipper that hasn’t closed in over a year that we want to ‘make sure’ it stays that way and so we drop that cushion weight of five to ten extra pounds. It’s that five or ten that puts us right smack dab in the middle of a size eighteen and sixteen or sixteen and fourteen …and if you are a Clothes horse like me, you well know that ‘between’ does not exist. Okay, so with that said, we kinds know what we want to do with those ‘big’ clothes that we kept for ‘fluffy days’ –you know, the ones that were one size bigger than what we wore… we get rid of those easily, and without looking back right.

My gosh they are horrible, right? Tent dresses—or so we feel—baggy pants, oversized shirts… We dreamed of fitting our pretty stuff. Now, suddenly as if overnight, we slide into our stuff and guess what… it’s loose. I don’t mean, wow, this is fantastic loose, I mean, ugh… this doesn’t fit and if I was in a dressing room at Avenue, I wouldn’t buy this! UGH… and it has the tag on it. What gives?

My first suggestion… if the tag is within 90 days … take it back. Right now. Don’t think… just run back to where you got it and return it for the next size down or get a store credit. Secondly, if you love it, then run to the closest drug store and get you a box of safety pens - the big kind. Start pinning.

Next suggestion is to look at the quality of your clothes. If you have some classic pieces find you a tailor. You’d be surprised at how inexpensively you can get a hem, a tuck and a ‘take in’. Fortunately for me, I have a tailor at my access and I do a little sewing myself. Those other pieces… give them away.

Go ahead. Just do it. They are too big and you will NOT be wearing them again! Remember your skinny clothes and when you finally accepted that your butt would never fit them again… No? EXACTLY.

It’s been so long since you were in them, they are either out of style or you don’t remember them… same with the big stuff… unless you paid over 50 bucks for that garment, let it go! What you’ll end up with are some quality pieces to start building on, and later we’ll get into putting together a ‘slimming’, ‘slamming’ wardrobe on leftover pieces and with the help of Ardyss International!

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Author McGriff - 220 pounds

Author McGriff - 195 pounds

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