Wednesday Weight-In: Week 100

I didn't realize that today was Week 100 until just now. I feel like I should have come up with an interesting post for it--although, there really isn't anything special about 100 weeks of working on getting back to a comfortable size and weight.

It's hard to believe it's been almost two years since I was dangerously on my weigh back to 253 pounds. I decided enough was enough and started calorie counting my way back down to a healthy weight. I felt that powerful sense of determination that isn't easy to come by. I was so sure that I wasn't going to be able to do it--but I did! It wasn't without challenges, for sure, but I'm hoping to learn from each setback that I have so that I can avoid it in the future.

Moving on... I am so thrilled about the jeans I'm wearing in this picture. Yesterday, Noah needed a ride to Toledo to pick up his car (he'd gotten a tune-up). Right around the corner from the shop was a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store--I hadn't been to a St. Vincent for probably 15 years. I just had to stop and check it out.

It was kind of a sad little store, but I browsed a bit anyway. Most of their clothes were for sizes 10/12+, which is too big; however, I happened upon this pair of True Religion jeans. I was so glad to see that St. Vincent doesn't mark their clothing at different prices based on what brand they are (Salvation Army and Goodwill now do that). Jeans were $3 a pair.

They didn't have fitting rooms, but I was pretty sure they'd fit me. I have a couple of pairs of True Religion size 29 jeans (I think that equates to a 7/8?) that I'd taken in at the waist and hips; these ones were size 27, so I hoped they'd fit without having to alter them. They are boot cut, too--I look terrible in straight-leg jeans.

I picked out two more pairs of jeans (ones that I think will be fun to alter) and a long-sleeve waffle top. The shirts were priced higher, so even though there were a few that I liked, I decided not to get them. When I went to the counter to pay, I saw a sign that said you could fill a paper grocery bag with clothes and pay only $10! I wish I'd seen that before I started browsing. I didn't want to go back and look again, but still I ended up saving a few dollars. I got three pairs of jeans and a top for $10. The True Religion jeans alone at Salvation Army would probably be $25.

When I got home and tried them on, I was excited to see that they fit! I do have to hem them--I don't think I've ever had a pair of jeans that didn't need the hemline altered. I'm 5'4", which is literally the average height of an American woman--but regular jeans are always too long, and petite jeans are a bit too short.

Anyway, I did not plan on writing that whole story about a simple pair of jeans! I was happy to see that my weight went down a bit more this week than it has over the last couple of weeks...

I was at 138.0 this morning, which is down from 139.8 last week. I'm happy with that! And I'm just three pounds away from the top of my goal range.

I didn't really do anything different this week; I've still been eating regularly (three meals rather than sporadically throughout the day). The biggest difference is oddly kind of exciting--I haven't been eating ice! This is HUGE.

I *finally* found an iron supplement that doesn't make me feel nauseous and I think it's actually working. I've been taking it religiously for about two and a half weeks and about five days ago, my ice cravings started going away. And for the last three days, I haven't craved it at all. I tried eating it last night, just out of habit, but it wasn't appealing like it has been for the last 10 years and I didn't even eat half a tumbler of it.

A few months ago, I was curious about how much water I consumed in ice alone and I measured out the water I put into my ice maker. Are you ready for this? I was eating the equivalent of just over a gallon of water every day! (I want to be clear that my iron was low LONG before I became vegan.)

I'm truly stunned.

I don't want to sing the praises of this iron supplement (iron from ferrous fumarate) just yet, because like I said, it's only been two and a half weeks. But if you're curious, it's called FERAPRO (and it's vegan!). I bought it after reading about it on an iron-deficiency Facebook group (a woman wrote that it was the only supplement she's found that raised her ferritin level). I had to order it from Canada and the shipping was kind of expensive--and I wasn't even sure it would work--but I was getting desperate after trying several others.

I'm going to finish this bottle (there are 100 capsules) and then ask my doctor for another ferritin test. My ferritin level was 9 last time, and the goal is at least 100. Crossing my fingers that this will be it for me! I'll update as I continue to take it.