What Changed?

Yesterday, I went shopping for a new pair of jeans. It's been a while since the last time I bought new jeans so I was really uncertain about my size. I got my second very pleasant surprise when I found out that I was, once again, a size 3. (My first very pleasant surprise came last week while cleaning my closet, where I happily found a pair of size 7 shorts that were now too big for me.)

I excitedly exclaimed to my friend, who had come along for the ride, that it felt good to be a size 3 again. She (mostly jokingly) flipped me off in response.

As I returned to the dressing room to change back into my own clothes, I had to wonder… “What changed?” This friend was a girl from high school who once shared my problem of not being able to find size 0 pants in a sufficiently petite length.

I was one of those people in high school that could eat whatever she wanted and never gained a pound. Once I hit 20, my jet-engine metabolism turned into a little water wheel machine. Everything I ate went straight to my hips. Unwilling to admit defeat to biology, I rejected the ideas of changing my diet and taking up regular exercise on the simple basis of never needing them before. But when I went up yet another size, I realized it wasn’t just me filling out anymore… I was just plain getting fat. I just wasn’t who I used to be and I needed to adapt.

Even though I still don’t exercise as much as I ought to, I’m extremely content with the changes I’ve made to my diet. I rarely eat anything fried, almost never drink soda (usually opting for water), and frequently choose vegetarian options. I cook at home often, using olive oil instead of corn oil and trying to make things from scratch.

A couple months ago, I went to In’N’Out and ordered myself a Double Double with animal-style fries and a vanilla shake, since I so rarely went there to eat. Halfway through my burger, I realized that the milkshake really wasn’t cutting it as far as thirst-quenching went. Then I thought, “I really just want some water to wash this down. Why did I even buy that milkshake?”

That’s when I knew that I had become a changed person.

“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us." -John Dryden