Scales

I like the title of this post, it reminds of a quote from the movie Bridget Jones' Diary.  Wendy--"Yes why is it there are so many unmarried women's in their thirties these days, Bridget?"  Bridget--"Well I don't know. I suppose it doesn't help that underneath our clothes our entire bodies are covered in scales."

So covered in scales, metaphorically that is true, isn't it?  Women in the west where food is plentiful and manual labor is considered lower class and therefore usually does not pay well nor have good insurance and pension benefits, its easy to become plump and then the scale we weigh ourselves on can become an obsession of measuring whether we are too plump or not.  So without trying to change the social, monetary and political order of things, how to deal with that obsession?

One way to deal with an obsession with the scale, is how I did in the past.  I stopped worrying about it.  In fact, I didn't stop thinking about it but did  stop using it.  However just like not balancing your checkbook doesn't help you to stop overspending, hiding from the scale didn't help me maintain a healthy weight.

Now I want to reach and maintain a healthy weight.  So I've decided I will try every trick I can think of to do that.  I do use the scale to help measure my weight loss and importantly to help set goals.  I combine the scale with other ways of measuring success too.  Now that I am firmly in the overweight category, I think I can brave taking my measurements and compare them to clothing size charts then set goals by clothing size.

Another way of trying to motivate myself is by visualizing myself slim.  Trying to imagine how it feels to move around in a slim body. How it looks to wear small size clothes.  What it looks, feels, sounds, smells and tastes like to be slim.

Wish me good luck.

Junior sizes:

Junior sizes

5'4"–5'5" (162.5–165 cm) tall, higher bust, shorter back
Dimension/Size	00	0	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	18
Bust	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37½	39	41	43	45
Waist	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29½	31	33	35	37
Hips	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39½	41	43	45	47
Back-waist length	13¾	14	14½	14¾	15	15¼	15½	15¾	16	16¼	16½	16¾

Misses's sizes:

Misses’ sizes

5'5"–5'6" (165–168 cm) tall, average bust, average back
Dimension/Size	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	018	20
Bust	32-34	34	34	35	36	37½	39	40½	42	44
Waist	22-24½	25½	26½	27½	28½	30	31½	33	34½	36½
Hip	33-35½	36½	37½	38½	39½	41	42½	44	45½	47½
Back-waist length	14½	14¾	15½	15¾	16	16¼	16½	16¾	17	17¼

Women's Plus sizes:

Women’s sizes

5'5"–5'6" (165–168 cm) tall, average bust, average back
Dimension/Size	38 (16W)	40 (18W)	42 (20W)	44 (22W)	46 (24W)	48 (26W)	50 (28W)
Bust	42	44	46	48	50	52	54
Waist	35	37	39	41½	44	46½	49
Hip	44	46	48	50	52	54	56
Back-waist length	17¼	17⅜	17½	17⅝	17¾	17⅞	18