Fancy Pants

Well, it has finally happened. 

My body has finally gotten the message and has finally begun to shed this excess weight in earnest...I won't lie: it is very nice getting on the scale and having it register less and less each week.
However, there are some things that I am losing that I am a little less than thrilled about...

I am losing my Fancy Pants.

Call them what you will, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  Come on, you know the ones...maybe they're your favorite sweat pants, favorite pajama bottoms...or, like me, your favorite "dress up" pants. They are the pants that are your "go-to" pants...the ones that you can dress up and go to formal evening out, or pair them with the perfect top and you've got a great go-to-school-event pair of pants. These are the pants that I wear when I know I'm going to see my mother (and I want to look really put together), and they are the pants that I put on when I'm going out to an evening charity event. They're the pants I can put a twin-set on with, throw on some pearls, and I have the perfect "Ladies Who Lunch" outfit.  I know how they fit, I know they look good, and frankly, I know that they hide what they are supposed to! 

(Sigh)

They are, as Sarah Kate put it, my "Fancy Pants." (As in, "Don't worry Mommy. I know exactly what you mean. You're going to just have to go find some new Fancy Pants.")  This conversation took place when I put my pants on yesterday to go to brunch and the theater (for my birthday Ron took me, Libby, Sam and Libby's friend to see Shrek: The Musical) and I realized: my pants are getting big. Like, really big.  Like, you could probably have fit a few programs, a lipstick and my mid-afternoon snack in my pants with me.

The good news is, I probably have a week or so left in my Fancy Pants. The bad news is: my niece's graduation from high school is in two weeks, and I am going to have to get a new pair of pants. (Or, --gasp!-- a dress or maybe even a skirt...)  For those of you who have never struggled with your weight, I am sure that at this point you're thinking, "....aaaannndd?" But for me, this is a big deal.  First, shopping for clothing (especially for pants!!) is NOT my favorite thing to do (oh, all right:  shopping for anything to cover my hindquarters has rarely been anything other than a chore).  It usually consists of me pulling two sizes of pants in the dressing room, and ending up buying the larger size. That is not fun, nor does it make me want to run out and go shopping.

But, there's just no getting around it this time.  My niece's graduation is nigh...and not only is it a major occasion for my family (one reason to pull out the Fancy Pants) but my parents will also be there...and I don't think that they've seen me in anything BUT my Fancy Pants for formal occasions in...well, probably a few years...So it is going to be important to look good.  I am of the school of thought, however, that one looks one's best when one feels good/confident...and I'm worried I'm really going to miss my Fancy Pants!

Let's be real here for a moment, though - I knew when I began this journey that eventually I would have to say goodbye to my beloved Fancy Pants...If I started making healthy choices and exercising and just doing the "right thing", then losing inches and pounds would be one of the better perks of this new lifestyle.  I just don't think I realized how attached I'd become to my Fancy Pants...or how hard it would be to say goodbye.  But this journey is all about goodbyes...and hellos! And that's how it goes, folks...out with the old, in with the new. New habits, new foods...new Fancy Pants. 

And that, my friends, is a good thing. A very good thing.