Love Not Lipo ... Live a Little, Love a Lot

It was a good technique declaring that I was going to have a good workout, because that I did! It felt like I walked into an oven when I left my house to drive to the gym, so I welcomed the chill of the AC when I entered Global, and I was immediately glad I decided to go to the gym versus run at the high school track which had been my original plan. I started with uphill intervals. 1.5 minutes of running at 5.5 mph on a 7.0 incline, then drop to 4.5 mph on 0.0 incline for a 1.5 minute recovery. After 20 minutes of this cycle, I got on the stairmill and did 20 minutes of level 4, climbing two steps instead of one, for another 20 minutes. When I was finished, I was drenched with sweat, although feeling pretty good cardio-wise, as opposed to last week when I pretty much felt like I was gonna die at the end. It’s such an interesting thing to me how the “hardness” of cardio workouts just come and go seemingly arbitrarily. I moved on to do chest and shoulders, and lifted for about 40 minutes, focusing more on chest with 3 sets of 6 different moves, and then 3 sets of two different shoulder moves. I wrapped up with 50 squats with a 25 pound bar bell on my back, 50 leg extensions, 50 hamstring extensions, and 10 pushups.

I came home feeling far more hopeful and more on top of my goals, even in the midst of my inexplicable 1 pound weight gain the day before. When I got to the front door I noticed that a package had come. I was excited to see that my new bathing suit had arrived the I ordered for my honeymoon. I tracked down on ebay what I hoped to be the perfect black spanx bathing suit, for more than half off brand new!! It was somewhat of a gamble because I can’t really return it, but I tend to have a good sense of what will look good on me and what won’t, so it was worth the risk. Against my better judgement I decided to try it on post shower, even though my skin was wet and would work against me. I again hesitated when I looked at the tag which said “This bathing suit may be hard to get on, but it will be worth it” or something like that. It was definitely hard to get on, in the sense that I felt that it was my second interval workout of the day. To add insult to injury, it definitely wasn’t worth it once the workout was over. This is what it is was supposed to look like:

I am not posting a picture of what it actually looked like because 1) I forgot to take a picture, and 2) (the more honest reason) Even I have a limit in the arena of self disclosure and vulnerability.

However, several days later, I received another bathing suit in the mail. It cost only $11, and because it came all the way from Japan, I had ordered it so long ago, I had completely forgotten about it. How this retro pinup beauty of a bathing suit dress was only $11, I’ll never know, but I love it! The best part about it is that I can walk around the resort in it as if it is a dress, and then spontaneously jump in the ocean!!

To delve deeper into the topic of jiggle binding textiles, when I was in New York a couple weeks ago one of the activities on the agenda, which in hindsight deserved a blog bost dedicated specifically to just that, was a visit to Bratenders for a professional bra measurement, and selection of a corsette for under my wedding dress. To abridge the experience, let’s just say it required checking all modesty at the door, and fully embracing the experience of being poked, prodded, and sucked-in while standing essentially naked in front of a bra expert. A passing reference in this blog post simply does not capture the nuanced richness of the experience, but I will tell you one concrete lesson I learned that day:

My bra size is not 42 C as I thought before. It is 36 DD. Yikes!!!

This revelation led me to making a decision yesterday to ditch all my old bras, and investt in a whole new set yesterday. I tried on probably 29 different bra styles in the theoretically appropriate new size (still reeling over double dee’s) and settled on 2 styles, in 4 different colors. I snapped this picture in the car giggling to myself about how I would definitely have to mention in Lovenotlipo about how not psyched I am that a 36DD means a 4 hook closure:

I have to admit, today was the unveiling, and I think that professional bra fitter knows what the heck is the deal!!!

One lesson learned is that a proper fitting bra makes a big difference. But the broader lesson learned is that comparing, wishing, or trying to be something that you’re not, will always leave you feeling less than, empty, or at best- physically uncomfortable.  Whether we’re talking about lamenting not looking like the mannequin in Spanx, instead of celebrating the $11 suit from Japan, or squeezing your flesh into 2 cutting hooks instead of embracing the 4 that leave you feeling comfier, and looking sexier in a T-shirt, the solution is to just be your best you, not the second (or third) best of somebody else.