Sleeping it off

I've got a few things I want to talk about today, mostly to do with things I have recently noticed or discovered along this little weight loss caper I'm on.

In an odd twist this weekend, I've eaten and drank far more calories and fat in the past 3 days than I would usually consume but not seen the expected outcome. Friday was the worst, Saturday not so bad, and the same yesterday. I fully expected to see the scales go up this morning after the foody debauchery, but it had bizarrely dropped away from Friday's weight by nearly a lb.

First up, I reset the scale and stepped on a second time to double check what I was seeing. It was still the same, and when I put my work trousers on this morning, I noticed that they're sitting a tiny bit better too. So what's the answer to this mysterious loss? I have a theory.

Sleep.

Yep, sleep; not moving my butt, but in fact, NOT moving my butt is, I believe, the answer.

This weekend I got 3 really decent nights sleep of around 8 hours and woke up this morning feeling really refreshed for it. It's quite unusual for me to get a full 8 hours sleep as I usually clock around 6 hours or so. But I have noticed over the last month or 2 that the scales go in my favour when I manage to get a couple of nights in a row of decent 8 hour sleep.

And it's not just me; I read an article in December's Zest magazine corroborating this. Apparently health professionals dub it "inslimnia" and it's a known affect on the metabolism of minor sleep deprivation. When the body doesn't get enough rest the hormone balance gets out of whack, and the metabolism ends up being inhibited. My thoughts on this - I'm going to make a real effort over the coming weeks to get at least 4 or 5 nights of quality 8+ hours sleep a week. It might even help the ginormous bags under my eyes too!!

Discovery number 2, and we're returning to my underwear drawer. This has been the topic of coversation before, and we're delving in once more. Underwear is the one drawer that I've been less than stellar at sorting out and discarding from during my weight loss. I've bought new smaller knickers as I've gone along, but been shockingly bad at getting rid of the older / bigger stuff, and the result is chaos. Like most women, I have a ton of different sized bras in there. As I've lost weight I've noticed that the bigger ones are now too big - they are on the tightest fitting and still ride up my back, and now gape at the front. But I'm bad at throwing stuff out as it's so pretty, and it's kind of hard to determine when it's just TOO big.

No more. It's got to be sorted. For the first time EVER I bought new bras on Saturday and they were a 36in band. Even when I first got measured as a teen they were a 38in band. It's WEIRD having 36's fit. Anyway, I think this marks time that the 40's need to be chucked. Ditto any knickers that aren't a size 14 or 16. There's just no point and I might as well get properly cleared out since I said I'd chuck all the clothes in the massive pile this week.

On another overshare of information, I'd like to share my pleasure at the reappearance of my belly button piercing. I had it done years ago, in my gap year just after I'd left school. Over the subsequent years and weight gain, it kind of disappeared into a little overhang of fat. Ok, I'm kind of grossing myself out here, but it's the cold hard truth. It wasn't really visible anymore, and you can't imagine the feelings of jealousy that people like Brittany Spears and her tiny, flat abdomen induced in me. For some reason I never took the bar out though - prob on the basis that no-one really ever saw my belly anyway so it didn't matter. But slowly, slowly it's starting to make a reappearance, as my belly gets smaller and starts to tone up. It's a slow process, and I don't know how much progress I can reasonably expect to make after years of abuse but every little bit is a bonus.

Talking of progress and things fitting better, you might remember me talking a while ago about shopping for kit for Egypt, and the joy and relief of not having to worry about being able to find a brand that fits, and even having a choice of things. In 6 weeks I head off skiing, and obviously my stuff from last year doesn't fit. What does fit are the pair of ski trousers that I bought years ago.

I bought them for my 2005 ski trip, when I was at my heaviest. I'd ordered them over the Internet as they were listed as being a UK size 20, but I couldn't even get them past my thighs when they arrived and I was gutted but kept them in the vague hope that I would one day manage to diet my way into them. I've been trying them on intermittently since I started losing as they've been my long-term marker of my success. On Saturday I tried them on again and they now fit absolutely perfectly with even a bit of room to spare. So I only need to buy a jacket and mid-layers this year. The exciting thing is I've started looking at jackets and they're are so many cool brands I can choose from now. I absolutely love it - having this choice, as even the coolest of brands go to a size 14. This was one of my motivating factors when I started and I've achieved it.

Goals-wise for the week, as promised I've fully jumped straight back on plan today and have my food planned for the rest of the day. I've rung the gym and booked my spinning class, and I'll book my Body Combat when I'm there later. I've chucked out more stuff on the pile and I'm going to work on bagging it all up over the next couple if evenings - I'm still intending on getting it all out of the flat this week - and I think it's going to be quite a cathartic thing to do!!

Apologies for the lack of comments on other folks' blogs recently - I've been catching up on everyone's adventures via my iPhone, and it's hard to comment from here - but I will get back to my regular commenting soon!!

More anon, healthseekers!


-- Posted from my iPhone