Forever in Blue Jeans

SUMMARY: I'm Zorro's Blue Jean Baby

From -- of course--Facebook. My post of April 24 '21 and my followup comments on April 25-26.

Downsizing/Disencumbering Continues. And body and body image and, yes, blue jeans! 

You need to know that I practically live in blue jeans.   Yes, it's true: 16/7/365.   (I don't actually sleep in them. Normally.)

Except--maybe?-- during the pandemic?

Except--maybe--after having Total Joint Replacement surgery?  OK, no, jeans would not work for the swelling, the bandages, the icing, the exercises, constantly getting into and out of bed... so I mostly wore leggings in and out of bed for a few weeks.

So: We arrive at April 24, 2021.

This morning, this section of shelf held 12 pairs of Levi’s that would undoubtedly “fit me again someday." It’s not just my weight, which is close to reasonable. No, it's other stuff. For example, there were several pairs of long -sized ones, which were barely short enough for me several years ago, and now are ridiculous.

Tried them all on this morning, found one that fit today. (Proving my hypothesis that at some point in the future any of them might fit!) But I overcame my don’t - get - rid - of - it Mentality and easily took them off to Plato’s Closet to see whether they would buy any. They did! I’m now $24 richer! And have 5 fewer pairs to dispose of in other ways.

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April 25: Follow up to the original: within an hour after I had posted six pairs for free on NextDoor, I had not only promised them off to people, but I had also promised three pairs that were in my rag/ recycling bag because the woman uses them to make rugs from all the denim! Score! So, really, 15 pairs to better homes!

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April 26: Oh, for.... !!!

Remembered that I had another place for storing jeans, and now I have 5 more pairs to try on and then [probably] dispose of. 

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Discussion on April 26.

The thing that gets to me is that the big stack mostly contained the "I *will* get back to my goal weight and keep it off." So, periodically, I'd get back to my goal weight and keep it off for a while. And many of the jeans would fit. But, then, gained some pounds, took a while to get back down-- But, suddenly, those jeans no longer fit!

Side note: I have never again been anywhere near my top weight from way back. Thank goodness for that! But, you know, 10 lbs or sometimes even 5 makes a difference...

So it's not the weight, per se. I am also (as of a couple of weeks ago at Kaiser), 4.5 inches shorter than I know I was when I moved to this house, and probably was for a long time thereafter. (I *know* that I had started to shrink 5-6 years ago when 2 friends who didn't know each other and in different contexts said, "are you shorter than me now?!" So I had a nurse measure my height--at the time, in a different department, so it didn't make it into my record, but it was something like 2 inches off. I was horrified. I had no idea.

(Becauuuuuuussse decreasing constantly now.)

But my old goal weight at the new height means that there's now too much weight in the wrong areas and I need a new goal weight. And, even then, not certain that most of those would fit any more. Because: Less muscle mass, and fat takes up more space for the same body weight. 🙁

Friend replied:  ah bummer. I had wondered if the BMI is based on shrinking size and then decreasing weight goals over time. Sigh...that is soooo wrong. Now I know.

Well--it mostly works. But it also depends on where one's body stores the--er--extra. Back in the couple of years in the '80s when I weighed over 180 (it was awful--by comparison, my goal weight has been 142 for around 30 years), it seemed to be distributed everywhere, and more in my arms and butt. Now most of it seems to be around my middle while the rest of me is ... kinda ok. BMI supposedly takes that into account ("fat around your belly is bad") as people age because that's a common thing even if you're not overweight. But it never *asks* for things like that.

Anyway, so, add that to DOWNSIZING, and I've decided to stop storing them. Yay me.