Yet another in the series of fitness essays

Friday, March 08, 2002
I am so excited. Gotta share this. Last April while on the road teaching tech courses the weather got really warm and I had only brought long sleeved and somewhat heavy clothing along. So, I regrouped and dropped into a TJ Maxx that was across from my hotel. I bough 2 blouses and then I saw it – a truly bright knit top that I had to have. According to conventional wisdom, it was so wrong for me: bold horizontal stripes with 4 different jewel tones plus black. It said medium, so I tried it on. My heart sank.

My flabby arms puffed out the sleeves, my protruding abdomen made it impossible for me to fasten the 3 bottom buttons, and it was tightly stretched around my mid section. This thing was yelling “Girl, you know you can’t fit this and you never will!” But I loved it. I was tired of navy and black that was supposed to hide my flaws and didn’t do a good job of it. Tired of never being able to tuck a sweater or blouse into my pants or skirt. Tired of having to hide the fact that my pants didn’t close all the way (I’ll tell you about the rubber band trick one day) and I hid that with large sweaters and buttoned jackets.

No. I wanted it. I needed it. Besides, it was on clearance. It needed me – the matching skirt had long ago forsaken it on the sale rack. I was its salvation. This was meant to be. Eighteen dollars away from changing my outlook I thought. I wavered at the register, but then the cashier said it had an additional five dollars off. Sold!

It’s been almost a full year. I would look at it’s designer label longingly, but not longingly enough to get my fat *#!s in gear and workout. I procrastinated until the summer was nearly over and started in August. But here’s the kicker:

I tried it on today. The sleeves are still snug, but not from my unmuscles. Now you can see the faintest line of tricep and a bit of bicep bulge. It doesn’t stretch at ALL around my middle – in fact, it’s actually a bit loose! I still have a bit of tummy, but it ain’t keeping this baby from buttoning down. I am just sssssssssssssooooooooooooo excited. The best part is: the bright horizontal stripes don’t make me look or feel like a well fed wilderbeast that’s slowing down the herd. Oh yeah. This is where I want to stay. In the ‘I feel good and look good all the time’ zone.

No clearance rack will be safe again.