Two and a Half Inches

My life has officially come down to this:

That’s two and a half inches folks and it’s now become my new goal and sole focus. I was sized for my wedding dress and discovered that I’m the largest size in my waist, a size smaller in my bust, and a size smaller than THAT in my hips! Basically, I’m all over the place. 🙂

For anyone curious about the typical measurements, see the chart below.

(source: http://www.inweddingdress.com/measure.html)

Everything is a little backwards. Hips are measured at your fullest part but waist at the most narrow – or your “natural” waist.

When I do weight loss measurements, I tend to measure at the fullest part of my waist:

BUT if you are buying a wedding dress online, you’ll want to measure at your natural waist. The easiest way to do this is to lean to the side. There will be a crease and that’s your natural waist.

I’ve known a few girls who got this messed up and ended up with a dress that needed more severe alterations because they went with the wrong spot. Now you all know the correct way to measure a waist! 😉

So it was a bit of a gamble trying to determine what size to buy. I could have ordered the largest of the 3 sizes but that was already 1 1/2 inches too large in the bust. That’s also the area I’m most worried about them altering because of how it might not end up laying correctly. Dropping down to my bust size and I’m officially 2 1/2″ too big in the waist…

If it had been 4″, I’d never have dropped a size. If I hadn’t already been making strides towards losing weight (and not just planning to like many brides), I wouldn’t have either. But, I did. Call me crazy but I ordered my dress too small and now I have until May to whittle down the waist to fit into my dress. It’s a teensy bit stressful but it’s also super-duper motivating to keep with it and not stop. I’ve been cheating a bit on my diet and slacking on the water, so this will help give me that push. And if I end up an inch short, well I guess that’s what those shrink wrap things are for. 😉 Ha Ha Ha

Actually, I’ve already lost 6 inches from my waist since I started the diet (fullest part, not natural) but now I’ll be measuring and know the magic number I need to get down to. I have until May to get there because they like to start alterations 3 months before the wedding.

So there you have it! It’s no longer about the pounds; it’s about the inches. Maybe I should put an official goal on the blog next to my weight loss goal. 🙂 We’ll see. I’ll tell you one thing, it’s easier to see movement on a scale then it is in measurements but I’ve found there will be several weeks of nothing and then, bam, down an inch. It’s a bizarre thing.

Wish me luck – I’m off and running!