Some Awesome Things That Have Happened Since I Lost Weight

The following is just a list of a few things that have happened since I dropped out of the obese BMI category, that have made me smile or have given me a new burst of confidence. My blog has been a bit grumbly and negative of late, so thought I'd brighten things up again!

- Had to get refitted for the wedding. My brother got married about a month ago, and I was the best man, so I got to dress up in tails. The first time I was measured up for the suit was back around April, and I warned them that the clothes may not fit come the wedding. True enough, I went back around July, and they had to make everything a size smaller. Hooray!

- Had to buy a new belt. I'd already had to carve a few extra holes into my old belt, but even so, it was getting to the point where the tail, when fastened, was wrapping itself almost half-way around me again! Felt wonderful to have to buy a new one, whose biggest size is smaller than the smallest size of my old one!

- Can sprint up my stairs now. I live in a flat on the fourth floor of a block, and when I first moved in back in February, I would have to stop around the third floor and catch my breath before continuing up to my flat. Nowadays I can sprint up the stairs two at a time, and only be a little puffed out at the end!

- I got asked to join a sports team. Well, sort of. A colleague of mine was part of the university's American football team (which isn't very common over here in the UK). When he saw me on the first day of term, after I had slimmed right down, the first thing he did was ask me to come along to training! That has NEVER happened before - ok, I was never the LAST person to be chosen in sports at school, but I was definitely down there. As it happens, he forgot to send me the details so I didn't end up going, but was still delighted to be asked!

- I had to buy new shirts...and went for slim-fits. My old shirts look like tents when I try them on now, and the jumpers/pullovers I had resorted to at my heaviest were no better. I had to go buy a bunch of new shirts to wear on the hospital wards this year, and found some which seemed to fit me wonderfully. It was only when I got them home I realised they were the 'slim-fit' variety - couldn't quite believe it!

- Friends want to read my blog. People have been noticing the weight loss for a while now, and some ask how I did it. After a few drinks I'm more than happy to tell them about how I blogged my progress, and that helped keep me on track. So far I've never actually given the address out, but a few friends have begun sidling up to me and asking for the link, so they can do the same! I'm very free with advice and encouragement, but don't want to share the blog until the journey is over, and I've maintained the loss for a while. Still, the fact that people are impressed, and the fact that, perhaps, I'm encouraging others to get healthy too...well, that's wonderful!

And finally, the thing I still can't quite believe, but I assure you, it happened...

I took my shirt off in public! 

Lol ok not public as such, but I still took it off! We were studying abdominal examination techniques, and the tutor wanted to demonstrate on one of us students. Since my group was made up of two girls, a guy who begged me to do it so nobody could see his tattoo, and myself, the pressure was on. In the past I would have refused point blank, no matter how awkward it became if the others kept asking. But this time...I only had to think for about a second. I wasn't COMPLETELY happy doing so, as I've still got at least 30lbs to drop until I consider myself 'ready', but even so, it wasn't really a problem at all. I no longer think of myself as a bloated, obese oaf who needs to stay covered up. Nowadays I'm just a guy, still a bit podgy, sure, but with nothing serious to be embarrassed about. So off came the shirt, and all my past hang-ups and fears came off with it!

So there we are, just a few things that have made me smile since I've dropped out of the obese BMI. I think its a pretty good list...and I'm not even done yet!