Leah O'Donovan

Friends and family will know that I’m on a weight loss regime and have been for the better part of a year now. As of today, since last January, I have lost 34 pounds. I don’t know how many inches because I didn’t bother to measure.

The first time I noticed a major difference in my waistline was August when several pairs of trousers were falling off of me. I’ve gone down one whole size in most shops and in Marks and Spencer I can now fit into clothing two sizes smaller. I feel a lot better and am enjoying running more and more, hence the 5K Race for Life I’m undertaking (hint, hint; see top of page to donate).

I’ve now encountered a small problem: I think my feet and hands are shrinking along with the rest of me. This week I’ve worn a pair of shoes that I bought last year and were always comfortably spacious. In other words they didn’t pinch or squeeze but they weren’t falling off my feet either. This week, however, they were very loose and falling off my feet. Now it seems the same is happening to my hands and wrists. My wedding rings are close to being loose enough to fall off with a too swift hand motion and my watch has become very loose in its original notch but if I take it down one it is slightly too snug. While all of this is good news on the whole, it is slightly annoying and frustrating on a daily basis. Apparently I’m not alone. A colleague who also lost a great deal of weight told me his feet went down a whole shoe size. He said it freaked him out, which I can understand. Currently, I’m just more annoyed than freaked.

I go into one shop and fit into a size smaller than previous. I go into another and that size is slightly too big but two sizes is slightly small. I have recently purchased a skirt suit two sizes smaller because it fit well enough and I’m only going to get smaller. Again, all of this is fantastic as a big picture but as it gets warmer I will find less and less in my wardrobe that fits and, therefore, lead to another ‘problem’ of this regime whereby I need to spend money to buy clothes. We’re trying to save for a house you see and while I feel as though I can justify spending money on clothing because I have little that fits me, at the same time I always feel slightly guilty for spending on myself.

So, ladies and gentlemen, we know the upsides of losing weight but we should not forget the downsides. I suppose, though, that they aren’t so much downsides as merely small potholes on the road to a thinner you. Nonetheless they are driving me slightly crazy and I thought I’d share this craziness with you. That is one of the main purposes of this blog: to share my craziness with the general public. Enjoy it readers for I have plenty more to give.