I know Victoria's Secret

And ya know something? It's not pretty. I was very excited yesterday for two reasons. One, it was Valentine's Day. Two, The MarvMan had promised me he would take me to Victoria's Secret to go shopping for new bras. Valentine's Day plus bra shopping at VS generally means - I can squeeze a little more out of this than just bras.

And I get away with it, why? Because MarvMan knows that I am a purebred bargain shopper.*

*My pedigree includes assisting my mother clip coupons every Sunday when we got the big, thick, Sunday paper, exhausting hours spent at the grocery store price comparing various products, and sale hunting at various malls and outlets.

So needless to say, I was pretty thrilled. Gretchen Wilson can sing all she wants about not needing designer tags, but I love me some Victoria's Secret. Now, I'm about to share with you some... uh... personal information. I'm a 36D. Shopping at WalMart? It's an odd size and difficult to find. Shopping at Victoria's Secret? Shouldn't be a problem. Bras are their specialty.

We arrived at the Meadowood Mall in Reno, and went to the VS inside. I zipped straight over to the Pink section. I love everything - the lounge pants, the hoodies, the flip flops, and the t-shirt bras are fabulous. Please note: I snagged a 2 for $32 set of t-shirt bras in a 36D last year.

I'm approached by a woman who purportedly wanted to help me. "Are you finding everything alright? Anything in specific you're looking for?"

"Yes, and yes. I'm wanting to grab some t-shirt bras, if you please."

"Sure, they're right over here! Cup size?"

"D."

"Oh. ... 36?"

"Yes. 36D."

She peruses the rack for a moment. "Um, you know? I don't think they make them in that size," she says, eyeing my rack like it's a monstrosity.

Excuse me? I got the bra I was actually wearing at that precise moment from the Pink section last year. Last. Year. Last year, people! Now, granted, it was at a different store, but the store was also in Reno, just over at the Summit Sierra shopping complex.

How in the world is my bra size that big an issue? And what was with the crass look like I'm some sort of freak show? Whatever. I'll move on. I found some 34Ds and since I've lost some weight, they work just fine.

Cheeky unders. 5 for $25. Well. Decent enough deal and I love the cheeky unders. So... I start perusing the little table they have set up to see what I can find. There were some seriously cute undies! Yay! Check sizes.

XS... S... more S... there's another XS... M, we're getting warm- where the hell are the rest?!

I look down. In order to get to the Larges, I must duck down and rifle through the drawers. In order to get a Large size panty at this particular Victoria's Secret, I must hide. So no one knows - or perhaps so everyone knows - that my ass is considered to be too large.

Obviously, no one has spoken to my husband about this. MarvMan claims it is a great size. Some days I tend to disagree, but on this particular day? I was embarrassed.

And that's the thing, Victoria's Secret. No one should ever have to be embarrassed about their body. No one. That's the beginning of eating disorders, crash dieting, and abusing our bodies into failure.

How dare you.

Everyone deserves to be "So Sexy." Every woman that walks this planet is an amazing, glorious, beautiful, sensual creature, and she doesn't deserve to be treated like a piece of garbage simply because her breasts are larger than a B cup and her butt is of the round, healthy nature.

The icing on the crapcake of the whole ordeal with the attitude flung at me from the woman behind the counter when I attempted to use my coupon I'd gotten in the mail. I hadn't gotten the "free" lacie panties listed on the coupon because there are certain styles and damn near every pair of panties has lace somewhere on it. At previous stores, this would not have been an issue - the saleswoman would simply tell me, "You can get X, Y, or Z" and I would pick. This woman, however, had an issue.

If I had a dollar for every sour face she made or how many times she rolled her eyes, I would have walked out of that store with at least another $10 in my pocket. When she continued to hassle me about the coupon, I gave up.

"You know what? I'm gonna keep my coupon and take it somewhere with better customer service. You just finish ringing me up so I can get out of here."

I understand retail ain't easy. I've worked it before. But working in a store like that? The better you make a woman feel about herself, the more she's gonna buy. And the Victoria's Secret at the Meadowood Mall in Reno, NV just lost all my business.

More motivation!

I posted yesterday about joining along with weight loss over at Mommatudes, and today I've found even more inspiration and motivation to get fit.


No, that's not me, but I wish it was! And it will be, soon! That gorgeous woman in the photo is Leah, creator of BookieBoo, a fitness hangout for moms! She's lost 100 pounds, and she's done it for her family.

I don’t do the exercise for me, I do it for my family. I’m a better mom and person when I’ve worked out. I’m more patient, loving, and of course have more energy. The days I haven’t exercised are like mornings without coffee…I’m an absolute shrew. I do it for them, and that is my motivation.

People say you should exercise for yourself and put yourself first, but I don’t believe that. I think some things are greater than you are…like your family. And they deserve it.
(original posting here)

I can totally identify. On workout days, I'm in such a better mood. It's only Day 3 of my own personal journey (you know, this time with feeling and commitment) and I can tell the difference, MarvMan and the girls can tell the difference. I'm getting myself in shape and my family is benefiting the most.

But creating Bookieboo isn't all Leah's done. Now she's launching MomActive radio, hosted by Leah herself and Fiona Bryant of The Bantering Blonde.

Tonight is a special night for MomActive, because there's going to be a Twitter launch party from 5-8 pm PST! Just go on over to TweetGrid and use the hashtag #bookieb and you'll be joining in the party! Tons of prizes and lots of great moms!

I'll be there - will you?

The road back to me

Physically speaking, of course.

There was a time in my life when I was fairly skinny. Some may even have said that I was of an athletic build. I was heavily involved in soccer, and was a pretty physically active kid all around, really.

Then puberty hit. And it was not kind.

At first I was excited for the curves to appear - my body was morphing in front of my eyes! (For a kid who read The Animorphs books, this truly was an exciting thing to see.) I was still fairly active, but then my social aptitude took a dive and I became more of a hermit. The curves I once thought were cute, became the bane of my existence.

Then I got that job at McDonald's.

Joining the Navy helped immensely. I went from 175 pounds* down to around 155. Twenty pounds in eight weeks. And when I first got out of boot camp, continued PT during A-School (technical training for my civilian friends) really helped to keep the weight off. That and whatever they put in the food at the galley. And no, I still don't want to know what it is.
*For my height of 5'8", at 175 I was out of weight range, but my recruiter and the people at boot camp flubbed for me, since I was going to lose it and be within regs anyway.

After A-School, I got a little lazy - I despise running, anyway - and became a member of the "3 Mile Club." Every PFA (physical fitness assessment) includes a 1.5 mile run. Our PFAs are held twice a year. I think you get the idea of how much I actually ran.

Then came kids. During my pregnancy with A-Girl, I had hyperemesis, couldn't keep anything down whatsoever for the first trimester and lost 30 pounds. So after I had her, I was right back to 150. Thank you, young body. My body was not so kind to me after BreMonster, though. I'm still dealing with things jiggling that really shouldn't be jiggling and soft areas that shouldn't be quite so soft. I have to be careful with wearing a belt with my jeans so I don't create a muffin top effect while still holding the jeans up around my waist. (Stupid me getting the stupid low rise jeans...)

I've tried and I've failed at different diets and exercise routines. But something clicked these past few months. I grabbed this workout system at Scheel's about a month ago called Barry's Boot Camp. It may seem cheesy because it's one of those As Seen On TV setups and makes the usual claims all those workout things will promise to get you to fork out dough. But it was on sale.

I can't resist a sale.

After conferring with MarvMan, he told me that all these workouts can actually work. It just requires that you actually commit to it, change your eating habits, and keep going even after the initial program is done with. (As in, if I wanna look like I want to look, I need to keep going even after I look that way.) Makes enough sense. So I'm the owner of the Barry's Boot Camp workout system. Thingy. Setup. Whatchamacallit.

I've been trying off and on to get started. The program they recommend is a one month program and you slowly build up to the highest intensity. It also included a "Code Red" workout guaranteeing rapid fire weight loss and toning in 6 days. Naturally, I shied away from it. The regular workouts were fine, and many of the exercises reminded me of what we'd done in boot camp.

And then I was inspired by a wonderful woman who writes a blog called Mommatudes. She's going for it. And I thought, "Hey. I can do this, too." So I signed up and I'm getting fit with her!

So I'm committed now. And started with the "Code Red" workouts to jump start everything. I thought I was going to die on Day 1. I'm on Day 2 now, and things are looking up. Hope I can get some results before I'm headed out to PA in July! I want to look good for that LFO concert!!

xoxo

My body hates me

aka - Fast Food Binges Suck

No, really, it does. I swear it. We'd been eating a ton of fast food lately, so when this past payday rolled around, my brilliant self said, "No more!" To be honest, the stuff is crap, anyway, and wreaks havoc on my system. Don't believe me? Skip eating at McDonald's for two or three months. Then go back - order anything on the menu. Your toilet will hate you and your plumber will giggle.

So I've ventured back toward my crunchy roots. It's nice to lay back and enjoy convenience for a period of time, but it makes me feel so craptastic, I'm running back to my oven in no time. In addition to eating at home more often, I decided to also get back in the routine of doing yoga every morning. I found some videos on YouTube and put together a one hour session that has been working wonders.

But then came detoxing from the nastiness that is fast food. I did a detox yoga routine for a day or two and oh, my goodness. In addition to all the gastrointestinal issues while the nasty stuff from the fast food was working its way out? Migraines. Skull splitting, vomit-inducing migraines. Slammed with two of them in the space of two weeks. Thank goodness for short naps, super hot showers, acupressure and breathing exercises.

Oh, and Excedrin and Coke. No, I am not above over the counter remedies while I'm in the middle of texting MarvMan, begging him to take me to the hospital so I can get shot up with Demerol or beg for Morphine.

Now, thankfully, I'm over the detox period. Just in time for what? Oh, that's right. The weight gain / loss fluctuation that comes with changing my eating habits until my body figures out what's going on. Lost three pounds, gained one, lost two pounds, gained three, lost one. Then two pounds. Overnight. What?! My body hates me.

My apology to it won't be actualized until the long term, but I hope that it accepts it sometime soon.

After all, we're starting cardio next week.