Dog Lead Shimmie

On the subject of weight issues and dieting, these days I am content with my lot having lost over four stones in the last 10 years.
It doesn’t sound very much over such a long period of time, but the good news is that having changed the way I look at food, what I buy and the way I cook it, the weight has actually stayed off and occasionally the scales show a drop of another vital pound.
I’d be lying if I said walking the dog three times a day instead of two hasn’t helped over the past 3 years.

My post today is a positive view of success, and I promise will not contain a single calorie.

First, let’s talk about clothes.
Last year, I purchased my first pair of jeans in YEARS. I was so pleased with myself, I bought 2 pairs having dropped two full sizes. My weight may not have changed since then but my shape has as even these are getting baggy round the bum.

In the 90s, one of my favourite work skirts was a cotton ‘jingle jangle’ skirt. It had masses of material, was almost ankle length with an elasticated waist and had a tie belt with tiny bells on each end. It was comfortable, cool in the summer months, and I lived in it.
When it eventually succumbed to one wash too many, I tried to replace it, and true to form could never find one of suitable quality. I found something similar on holiday in a Scarborough market, washed it twice and it fell apart.
Ho hum, what do you expect for less than a fiver these days?

Years later, in a textile craft shop in Bournemouth, I purchased a heavy patchwork skirt of various dark blue materials. The label said it was a size bigger than I needed, so I didn’t bother trying it on.
I wish I had, as when I got it home, I couldn’t pull it up over my hips and putting it on over my head was like some kind of belly dance of the boobs as the waistband did not stretch at all!
Needless to say, it was NOT comfortable, and getting out of the damn thing was as entertaining for Hubby as getting it on.
I still liked it though, and forever the optimist, felt that eventually I would lose enough weight for it to fit.

When we moved here and we’d finished the endless work that needed doing, we thought we’d ‘dress up’ and go out for the evening. I decided to wear my patchwork skirt and it literally fell straight down to the floor, almost without touching my sides! I pulled it up and secured the tie belt, which didn’t pull in as much as I thought it should, so the skirt kept slipping down to my hips and dragged on the floor. I wore it twice more, fell over the hem every time I stood up, and gave it to a charity shop for someone a good six inches taller than me.

Going back even more years, I was an enthusiastic hula hooper.
Most of the girls in my class were actually, and the hoops in those days were made of bamboo. I could hold my own, though I never managed to keep more than 2 up at any one time. How the professionals keep vast numbers of hoops going that fully encompass their bodies, having them swirl to the end of their limbs and back again is phenomenal and awesome.
In a crazy stab at an exercise programme in the late 70s, I signed on with my newly purchased plastic hoop, but the only exercise I got was picking it up off the floor as I couldn’t Hula if my life depended on it.
It was one Hula- fa- laugh though (sorry) , and I got sent out of class because my hysterics were considered to be a disruptive influence.
Now what has all this got to do with a dog leash you might ask.

Maggie has more than one lead. We have leads in each car and a couple of spares, though most of the time when we’re out walking she is off lead.
If we are in unfamiliar surroundings, we’ll put her on a lead to wherever we’re going for our walk and then let her off, the lead going round my neck as my pockets are usually full of biscuits, the mobile phone and poo bags (I confess it was actually pointless putting it round my waist as it didn’t meet) .
One day, I put it round my middle without thinking and was able to do it up. I must admit that this particular lead was the longest, and NO, it was not one of the extending variety (cheek!) .

I couldn’t do this with any of the others mind you, but this was a landmark day for me, and I have used it as a guide for ‘weight control’ ever since.

I am now pleased to report that the other three leads each join ends round my waist now, although one makes it a little difficult breathing.

And the shimmie?
That my friends is the ‘first lead’ not only fitting round my waist, but with a gentle nudge and a shimmying of hips (and no breathing in) , it slips all the way to the floor.

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