The downside.

(Disclaimer: I am very happy that I am losing weight. I wanted this. Nevertheless, there are some things that go along with it that are problematic.)

1. You have to buy new clothes.  That, in itself, is not a big problem for me. I love to shop and am thrilled that there are more clothes available to me now that I weigh less. BUT, this is why, at any given time, women have three or more sizes of clothing in their closets. I started out in sizes 12 and 14 (eek). After two or three weeks, those clothes were too big. Not just, hey, they're too big, but hey, I need suspenders and lots of belts to wear these in public. So I bought some new clothes in a size 10. Those are now too big, in the same way. I went last night and bought two new pairs of blue jeans in a size EIGHT (YAY!). I probably should have gotten the 6, but they were just a little tight. Same thing in sweaters and shirts and blouses, although I have continued to wear my too-big shirts and stuff there.

The bad thing about this, about having multiple sizes, is that if I do indulge around the holiday season, I know I have bigger pants. I should toss them, but they're only a month old. Dilemma.

2. Loose skin. You don't carry two people around in your body for 9+ months without there being horrific repercussions down the line. And when you add a weight gain (non-baby-related) of 100 pounds (this is from a few years ago)...it is ugly. I said last time that I was going to get a tummy tuck, but I didn't. It seems silly to go through surgery for such a vain reason. I'm never going to wear a bikini -- I didn't when I was a teen and didn't have massive stretch marks and loose skin -- but I think it would do wonders for how I feel about myself.

3. Weird areas of weight loss. I lose lots of weight in my...chest. I still have these hips that W-I-D-E, but up top, I'm an 11-year-old boy (literally, I can wear Kyle's shirts and if you've seen him, he's skin and bones). I also lose weight (or something) in my feet. My fingers are another one. My wedding ring is *very* loose, and since I've had it sized up and down so much over the past almost-16 years, the jeweler has recommended that I not mess with it again. Sigh.

4. Clothing choices. I'm not there YET, but once you get into small sizes -- 6, 4 and 2 -- it is very difficult to find age-appropriate clothing. Apparently, women who are those sizes only want to party-hearty, and to do that, they must wear very short denim mini skirts and see-through sweaters. Umm...except when they're 38-year-old women who work in a professional/academic setting. Monday through Thursday (most weeks), I'm wearing dresses and skirts and nice pants. Last time, I went through this, I found things at SteinMart, but you can only have so many black and grey and brown skirts. I ended up doing a lot of online ordering, from Anthropologie and J. Crew.

5. People notice. This is a double-edged sword. On one hand, I am thrilled that people are noticing that I've lost weight. Apparently, this week it really started showing, because I had several people comment on it. On the other hand, it makes me very self-conscious that they are noticing, because what if I gain back a few pounds? What if I totally fall off the wagon overnight and go on an Oreo cookie bender? It's not going to happen, but what if?

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This is how much I've changed from four months ago. Yesterday morning, I had a work thing I needed to briefly attend. We had a busy day planned and I figured I'd run at night. On my way home from the work thing, I noticed very ominous-looking clouds, and decided I wouldn't take any chances. I got home and ran right then. The threat of rain never materialized (at my house anyway), but I didn't want to miss my run!