Polishing my Pretty

I'm not a bad looking woman, overall. Some days, I feel prettier than I do on other days - but I think that's just how things are.

However, I've realized that there are several minor things that I can do - that I would actually enjoy doing - that will make those 'I look good' days pop up much more frequently.
It's a logical extension of my hair obsession - starting from the top, and trickling it's way down.
I'm already all over my face - I've got a pretty good routine (OCM, TTO Cream, Ayurvedic Cream) going on there.

I'm in the process of working on my body - and interestingly enough, for once, it's not REALLY for appearance reasons, and I'm happy with that. I'm motivated - highly - to lose weight, but it's not because I want to change my body - it's truly because it's healthier for me. That 'clicked' as I was leaving the gym last night, and realized that I was down 6 pounds from where I thought I was. So, this year, so far, I've lost 17 pounds - without really feeling like I've been on a diet, OR really pushing myself all that hard. That's impressive - to me, at least. A loss of 3.5 pounds a month, WITHOUT really working all that hard at it? Nice, very nice.

Also, the Metformin has really given me hope. I've ALWAYS felt like I was fighting my body when it came to loosing weight - that it rather stubbornly WANTED to hold onto to the fat, and damn whatcha heard, it was GOING to.

As I was telling C, I'm pretty certain that my insulin resistance is what caused Atkins to crap out on me. I lost 60 pounds - sticking to the diet, and doing some minimal exercise. Then I plateaued, and plateaued HARD. I added exercise - nothing. I maintained, yeah, but literally - I didn't lose another POUND - and then, my eating slipped, and it slammed back on like white on rice. I think that Atkins was able to suppress my insulin response enough that I could drop those initial pounds - but once my body got smaller, Atkins was no longer able to suppress my insulin enough to allow me - in a smaller body - to keep losing weight.

I'm already eating a low GI diet - definitely NOT very lowcarb, but I really don't want to go back to low-carb - I'm much more into eating REAL food, now, and the low-carb stuff - meh. It's just as bad as the other processed options out there. The lowGI diet though, is really what I lost those 17 pounds on - seriously cutting uberstarchy stuff out of my diet (though, popcorn, I still love thee!!).
And, I'm already exercising - not consistently, but that's my goal for May - to be pissing on point, 5 of out 7 days. C only works out 3 days - but now that he has a job, he's not home when I get home, so I can work out EVERY DAY if I want to. Fridays are always the hardest, as I just wanna fall out once I get home from work - but I think that it will always be 'weight' day, which, while sucky, is a shorter period of suck than cardio. *lol*

So, yeah. I think that I've got the body stuff down.

My next area of work?

Clothes.

It's really kinda sad, the clothing that I wear. It's old, it's decrepit, it's holey - but I keep on wearing it because I like it, it's comfy, and it fits my body type.
Which, really, is sad, considering that I OWN a sewing machine.
So. Over the last few days, I've been plotting out my wardrobe.

Really, I'm pretty consistent in the things that I like to wear, and the things that look good on me. Rather simply, it's this:

Long skirts - preferably ankle length. I really don't like how I look in most pants (because of the thighs almighty) and short skirts make me look stubby because I have surprisingly small calves/ankles relative to the rest of my body. Not too full, but definitely not straight, either.

Babydoll Shirts - with a band/pull in right under my boobs (which are, despite my belly, STILL the biggest part of my upper body), so that it accentuates the positive, and lightly skims over the negative. I don't care if it 'makes me look pregnant' as I've got a 4 month belly on me, anyhow. I realized that almost EVERY single one of the shirts I wear on a regular basis are that style, and there's a whole range of ways to make them look different, and still be the same basic style.

Tank Tops - I live in these, seriously. I sleep/exercise/work/cook/clean/live in a tank top, 90% of the time. I'm sure I can make them for cheaper (and sturdier!) with some ease.

Button Down Shirts - these are usually used as cover-ups/layering over tank tops during 'inbetween' weather. Preferably no chest pockets, and 3/4 length sleeves.

Tunic Sweaters - my standard winter time gear - hip length sweaters, layered over a tank top.

Dresses - for those days that I really don't feel like coordinating anything - an empire waisted (or wrap) dress, preferably ankle length as well - and 3/4 length sleeves. Basically, a shirt and a skirt joined as one.

And that's IT. Most of my wardrobe that I actually wear fits into one of the above categories.

It's stupid easy to sew long skirts, and tank tops - those are what I'm going to start with, just to get me in a sewing mindset.
Next, I'll tackle the babydoll shirts (as shirts are kinda easy for me to buy, it's bottoms I'm never happy with), and then the dresses. The last thing I'll start to work on are the buttondown shirts, as I suspect they'll be rather 'tricky'. And that's it.
I don't knit, so I won't be making any sweaters - but my sweaters are actually holding up rather well. They need to be throughly defuzzed, but otherwise, I can definitely rock them for another year.

So, yeah. I'm feeling - really, really, really good about things, just, overall - I feel - healthy. In spirit, mostly, but it's been a while.