When we lived in Florida I taught my weight loss class to a wonderful group of ladies. One of them, who I’ll call Carol, lost weight during the class, but more importantly, used the tools she had learned to continue on her journey. She ended up losing 80 pounds and looked fabulous. A funny thing happened with her husband. He also got motivated and lost a large amount of weight. (That’s not the funny part!) Several months later, I ran into Carol at the store, and she shared a very funny story with me.
Her husband was worried about a lump he felt on his chest, so made an appointment to see his doctor. The doctor came into the exam room, exchanged pleasantries, and asked Jim to lie down and show him where he felt the lump. Jim laid down, and pointed out the problem. The doctor felt it, and said, “Is this what you are feeling – right here?” Jim nodded. The doctor said, “Congratulations Jim – you are now feeling your sternum!” Jim left relieved he wasn’t dying, embarrassed he hadn’t felt his sternum in so long he forget where it was, and thrilled at his weight loss.
There are lots of good things that happen when we lose weight. The number on the scale drops and that’s happy. We wear smaller sizes, and that’s happy too. But in addition to those obvious things, there are many other little physical things that I noticed as I lost weight. Here are the first 10 that popped into my head. (I probably could have written 100 – maybe I will someday!)
»I did have collarbones, wrist bones. and knee bones after all!
»I no longer hung over chair seats.
»My calves fit into boots again.
»Tying my shoes and shaving my legs was easy.
»My kids could hug me all the way around!.
»I lost my double chin.
»I took up less physical space in rooms.
»My former pants size (28) was now my waist size.
»I looked taller.
»I felt younger.
In blog-land, and in my weight loss classes, we often love to focus on sizes, scale numbers and health issues. Those are all wonderful benefits of losing weight, but I found great joy in discovering and experiencing some of the other unexpected physical things that happened as I moved from obesity back to fitness. As you lose weight, make sure you take the time to appreciate those little changes as they occur. How do you feel when you sit in the car, and notice that you thighs aren’t hanging off the seat anymore, or that the seat belt doesn’t extend near as far as it used to? These little signs of progress helped keep me motivated, and were a lot of fun to discover. Hopefully you won’t have to pay the doctor to tell you the bone you are feeling is your sternum!
Care to share any progress signs you’ve noticed along your journey? I’d love to hear them! Diane
Some progress signs I’ve noticed is that I have hip bones
Also the fact that the double chin have disappeared, I have color bones and that my wedding ring don’t fit anymore.
blackhuff´s last fabulous musings ..Before-after photos – weight loss thus far
The biggest sign of progress I felt was more energy. Also not feeling ashamed of myself having a sense of accomplishment and approriate pride in taking care of myself.
My wedding rings became way to lose too. Also I went from a size 18-20 down to a size 14 pretty fast without relizing it at first. One day I tried on my old jeans and the FELL right off into a big puddle at my feet what a happy day that was:)
So far I notice that it’s easier getting out of chairs. My knees aren’t aching as much. I’m amazed that I’ve lost 21 pounds and I feel smaller, unfortunately when I look in the mirror I don’t see smaller. So I’m just going with how I feel!
Natalia´s last fabulous musings ..Sad Dreams and Weigh In!
I had to move the seat up in the car to reach the pedals. My husband thought I was crazy but my bottom is smaller and my body is now further away from the pedals.
I have noticed how much more energy I have now that I eat better and exercise.
I also notice that I’m getting more and more comfortable in seats. One of the things I hated when I reached my highest was feeling so fat that I couldn’t fit into seats comfortably.
Leah´s last fabulous musings ..Weigh-In Wise Words
Tying my shoes more easily was a big deal for me. I first noticed that doing so was much easier when I got down to about 250 pounds. I didn’t feel like I looked that different at that point, but boy was tying my shoes a radically different experience at 250 than it was at 300.
Desert Agave´s last fabulous musings ..Where Does that Track Lead Anyway
I too am a little obsessed with my new found collar bones!
Tiff´s last fabulous musings ..Poppin In for a Weigh In!
Diane, LOVED this & that story about the sternum! It has been a long time for me but I do remember loving to see my collar bones & also when the muscles in my arms started to show!
Love the focus on other things people may not think about!
Jody – Fit at 53´s last fabulous musings ..Blog Your HEART Out Day!
More energy, collar bones, hip bones – who knew!
I loved that story! I can actually see my sternum if I pull my shoulders back and I hadn’t been able to do that since my 20s. I have a similar experience although I didn’t go to the doctor–I freaked out in the shower one day feeling a lump when I was washing above the rectum shall we say… then I realized I was feeling my tailbone, which had had a lot more padding previously (my hips are six inches smaller than when I carried 30 extra pounds.)
I just re-lost a couple of the “stress pounds” I had put on in the past few months with just a little cutting back and exercising more, and I realized that absent something like a major illness, injury or surgery, I’m just going to be able to maintain my weight and self-correct if it goes up a little with ease. (I have several friends who gained weight after surgery or in the case of one friend, a broken back. Forced inactivity tends to produce weight gain, not only because of less calorie burn but because boredom, pain and frustration often lead to eating…and some of us get depressed when we don’t exercise.) Hopefully nothing like that happens to me but I acknowledge that all of my friends who had that happen, went back into fitness and eating better right after.
I’m JEALOUS you can wear boots! I bought some that seemed to fit but they leave lines from the zippers and have rubbed skin off/torn nylons… they don’t seem to account for calf muscles (which seem to grow when one walks and does elliptical machines). You probably fit them because you’re tall–I have a size 6 shoe and they think my calves should be sticks!
I love that I need less yarn to make myself a sweater.
I was SHOCKED when I discovered my collar bone. I hadn’t seen it in over a decade. And you are so right about the boots thing….I was finally able to buy some cute boots that went to my knees because I could FINALLY zip them up over my calves!
I love to lie in bed and feel my hip bones and how flat my stomach feels (when I am lieing down). I keep looking for the collar bone and ribs. But I can easily wrap my fingers around my wrist. And I am also always looking for the sag on my back to be 100% gone – almost there!
Knee-high boots is definitely a goal of mine. I can’t wait!
jessey´s last fabulous musings ..Weekly Weigh In
Diane, one of the things I have enjoyed most with a 52 lb. loss (i have about 10 to go) is better intimacy with my husband. Not sure if it is partly due to less self consciesness about my body or better health adds more vigor and desire. I think it’s a mixture of all but I am sure loving our alone time (and so is he!)
jeanette´s last fabulous musings ..Running amuck in the snow…
WOW – former pant size is now your waist size – that REALLY drives home your progress! Awesome!!
fittingbackin´s last fabulous musings ..Paper Plate Lunges- Sweet Baby Ava- A Photo Shoot
I used to be very fit and active as a teen and into my twenties. I had 2 children and that body seemed so far from where I was. I missed those things that I never noticed before; collar bones, skinny fingers, hip bones. I didn’t see them for a long time. One day I got sick of feeling depressed that I decided to just do something about it. Instead of sitting on my butt watching TV I would pop in a tape and start exercising, I would do clenched while doing dishes and all kinds of things. I started getting compliments and get “checked out” once again, but the important thing for me was being able to play with my kids; go biking, hiking, go to the zoo and walk around. That’s the best.
Jasmine´s last fabulous musings ..anniversary gifts