The bitter: it’s not been a good weight loss week. My scale says I’m up by an amount that I doubt I’ll shift entirely over the weekend. The reason? Booze. I went out drinking on thursday and friday.
The sweet: I went out drinking on thusday and friday! On friday I went to a geek conference (http://www.phpconference.co.uk), which was preceded by late night socialising. The event is organised by the local usergroup and is “world class” but essentially put on by amateurs for the benefit of the PHP community. A few years ago I was living in London and became a part of that scene, making friends and enjoying the geekiness; I helped out at the 2008 conference and played a part in chairing a debate. Go me! I “was a speaker” at an industry conference. I really enjoyed that time, but my weight pretty much killed it off. It’s one thing being the sweaty fat guy sitting in the corner, but another when you’re standing on stage with all eyes on you. Since then I’ve retreated into my shell, avoiding the events and generally disappearing off the map for 2 years.
My plan was to buy some new clothes with I hit 100lb lost, but a trip to London and this event brought that forward a little. If any fat person needs a quick (de)motivation boost they should just go shopping for clothes: I’d forgotten how depressing it is. To cut that story short, I eventually found a pair of jeans and shirt that were just about comfortable; that’s a win in itself because I’ve not worn jeans for… 10 years? Unfortunately, or perhaps it was masterful salesmanship, the only jeans that fitted well were a pair from Ralph Lauren. Great: not only do “big stores” rape you on the price just because they can, I’ve now got to pay designer premium too! Whilst they are a little on the tight side, I’ve got a feeling I’m going to get my money’s worth out of them. (For the record, I’ve dropped 6-8 inches on my waist, and knocked an “X” off my top size, woot!).
So, wearing my new gear I hit the social event and partied like a rockstar! The next day was rough, but I felt like I was home. I caught up with my old friends and colleagues and just had a great day. There were a few “You’re looking really well” comments, and one “Wow! You’ve lost weight, like big time!” from a former boss. I also got a massive confidence boost from people asking me “So, are you speaking this year?”, and some explicit encouragement from others, telling me that I should be submitting proposals. That made me feel good.
The day finished off by watching the rugby with a couple of my best mates. As men, we talk about sports, women and man stuff; not feelings or makeup or our bodies. At Christmas the only weight comments I got were from my girlfriends (and even then subtly disguised), but yesterday my buddy looked me up and down and nervously asked me, “So, urm, have you joined a gym or something?”. A big grin crept across my face, I must really be losing weight if men are noticing 
. I reckon it’s the new jeans.
I’m preparing myself and you for a gain on Monday but it was totally worth it.
You totally know it’s not a legit gain. I’m sure you’ll post big numbers next week!
It sounds like your conference was a lot of fun. And how cool is that people are noticing your loss?! I bet that made you feel really good.
Very cool