Auntie's "Progress Dress"

I recently reread some posts on the A Black Girl's Guide to Weight Loss blog.  I don't agree with many of the author's views and I think her site is very racist at times, but she does make some good points about fitness.  Like a good horse, I eat the hay and spit out the sticks.  Her post about the "Progress Dress" caught my eye:

My progress dress helped me to actually see what the changes to my body meant for my wardrobe possibilities. I mean, be honest – we look at ourselves naked every day. Especially for those of us who might criticize ourselves [unnecessarily] every day, it may be hard to see our progress because we expect to wake up one morning and see [insert "problem" area] gone away. Having one dress to turn to every couple of weeks makes a great deal of difference in appreciating our progress.

A while back, I attempted to have a progress dress.  I lost weight, tried the dress on, and it didn't fit right.  I lost more weight, tried the dress on, and it still didn't fit right.  I lost even more weight, tried the dress on, and, you guessed it, that puppy was still not fitting properly.  I finally figured out that no matter how much I lost, that dress was still not going to look well on me.  My mistake was that there was no "wow" to the dress at all--nothing to keep me motivated.  No, it was not "certified hoochie wear" like my girl's progress dress.  In fact, the dress was the direct opposite:  very matronly, stodgy, and downright butt ugly.  I liked the cut of it, but the coloring was something my nearly 80-year old mother wouldn't ever wear.  Oh snap!  I let the dress go to the happy hunting grounds.  Oh, I forgot to mention that this dress was so old that the inside and lining of it was all stringy and not fit for anything, so I wouldn't give it away.

I had a pair of progress blue jean shorts for a while.  I literally had to pack my ample belly in them to get them on and I had a hard time breathing in them.  I lost about 20 pounds and now they fit well enough to wear outside the house.  So, what's next?

Well, I was blessed with some clothes from a friend and in them was this little number.  As you can see, I can at least get into the dress, but it's not ready for public consumption by any stretch of the imagination.  No, I do not know where I will be wearing it once it fits well.  Heck, if it looks half as good as I think it will look on me, I'll wear it to WAL-MART.  Yes, I realize that it may be cold weather again before I get down far enough for that, but I don't care; I'll wear it ANYWAY.

The reason I wanted a progress dress is because, like the blog author, I could see progress in the numbers on the scale, but not really see them when I looked at myself in the mirror.  I try to take my measurements, but I end up wondering if I am doing them correctly, or am I sabotaging myself with too big measurements.

I'm not sure how I feel about the trying to feel "sexy" or "look hot naked" thing the blog author talked about.  I'm not married, nor am I trying to "catch a man."  I do want to look nice and feel good about going out in public.  I care deeply about being a good example to those around me.  No, I'm not trying to be a fitness guru or anyone's food police, but Celebrate Recovery's Principle eight states:  "Yield myself to God to be used to bring this good news to others, both by my example and by my words."  If I am going to be that example, I can't just talk a good talk.  I've got to walk it out.  I've got to live it out.

So, every few weeks, I'll try the dress on again and update y'all.

Do you have any "progress" wear you are working on?

 

UPDATE: I'm not progressing as fast as I would like.  Maybe in another few months I'll have something to report.  For now, me and the dress still look the same.  (12/28/13)

UPDATE #2:  Still can't wear it.  (04/20/16)

UPDATE #3:  I'm sure I could wear it now...if I had it.  I've moved several times since this post, so I didn't have room to keep the dress.  (01/12/18)