So how much smaller am I now, anyway?
5 minute read
September 15, 2011, 10:50 PM
So it’s been six months now since my journey towards physical fitness and a slimmer figure began. Now I’d like to show you some results. Last Friday after work, a coworker and I were discussing how a lot of my clothes don’t fit right anymore, and my coworker wondered how the black zentai fit me these days. I admitted that I hadn’t worn the black zentai in over a year, and so I had no idea, but I was kind of curious as to how it fit as well. Somehow we came to an understanding that I would try it on and see how it fit these days.
So that evening after I got home, I pulled out the tripod, set the camera up on it in the kitchen, pulled out the black zentai, and put it on. Now the benefit to this setup (with the camera on a timer) is that this is pretty much a straight apples-to-apples comparison, with all variables controlled for except the one we’re trying to demonstrate. See, I took a series of photos of myself in the black zentai in July 2008 in the same location and under the same conditions. So here’s a side by side comparison:
The photo at left was taken July 1, 2008. The photo at right was taken on September 9, 2011. In both cases, by the way, I did some gamma correction on the images in order to better bring out the wrinkles in the suit. First of all, on the 2008 photo, there are some wrinkles in the sleeves, which for some reason were always like that, and there was a little bunching around the hips. Okay. But most of the suit is fairly smooth, and unfortunately, you can see the spare tire that I’m carrying around my middle. You always wondered why I always wore this costume with clothes over it, didn’t you? That’s why. Now in the right photo, the spare tire, while still there, is definitely much less so. Then the suit around the arms looks a bit more wrinkled, and there are a lot of places with wrinkling and bunching where it previously wasn’t. Lots of wrinkles on the side, on the shoulders, around the hips (more so than before), the thighs, and even around the neck. About the only place where it still fits right is around my calves and my feet.
But wait, it gets better. Look at the side:
The photo at left is from the Boston Megaraid on May 29, 2010 (thank you to the Anon who took this). The photo at right was taken in my kitchen on September 9, 2011. First of all, notice the difference. I have a bit more in front in the left photo. That has really changed. There’s still some junk in front, but much less. Likewise, there’s a lot of bunching – around the middle, around the neck, around the arms, around the thighs, and around the butt. Apparently, I’ve lost a lot of butt, since there was definitely a shape down there in that photo from last year. Now, it kind of gets lost in a pile of ill-fitting spandex. That surprised me. The neck also surprised me, but I’m guessing it’s because the face has gotten smaller, and maybe there’s a ripple effect of sorts on how the suit fit changes in places? Who knows.
Also notice my posture in the side shots. In the 2010 photo, I’m leaning slightly back, presumably to balance the large mass of excess weight on my front. Same effect observed in this photo from October Rebellion, where I sort of bow out and back. Now in the 2011 photo, I’m standing straight up. Better posture for the win! Maybe that posture change explains the back pain that I had in May and in August, with my body’s deciding that it wants to align itself differently than it did before. Still, I like the new way I’m standing. I wonder if that doesn’t also explain the foot pain as well, as things are landing differently now compared to the way they had for many years.
Still, I’m definitely smaller than I was a while ago, that’s for sure. The only place that still fits well in the new photos is the calves and feet, and the podiatrist that I’m seeing about my foot says that part of the problem there is that my calf muscles are too tight, so who knows – maybe it won’t fit right there, either, once the podiatrist is finished with me.
In any case, I believe that right now, I would need to wear padding under the suit to get the proper fit to actually wear it where anyone might see me, or use some strategically placed rubber bands to gather the suit together in places. Or I could just send it back to Spandexwear to get recut, but I think I’m going to wait to lose more before I get any costumes recut. After all, I don’t want to spend money on getting the suit recut only to have to send it back again in short order to get it recut again.
Then after I did the serious photos with the hood up, I took the hood down and took some funnier ones. See, now that the suit doesn’t have to stretch, it got really hot inside there. So off with the head – instant relief. And I posed with the suit some more, emphasizing some of the areas where there’s excess fabric:
Lots of spare material in certain areas, as you can plainly see. I’m proud of that excess material!
And then I really got silly. Three guesses as to what this is supposed to resemble, first two don’t count:
Yes, I cut some paper into squares and attached it to the suit with scotch tape in order to make this into something that resembles a Power Ranger. However, if I really had a Power Ranger costume, you should know that I would totally be the Blue Ranger, and not the Black Ranger. After all, Triceratops (and Unicorn) were much cooler than Mastodon (and Lion). Plus who would want to be the black frog when you could be the blue wolf, right?
So there you go, I suppose. Pretty cool, eh?
Song: The Pink Ranger plays patty cake with the Yellow Space Ranger. Fun, eh?
Quote: Meanwhile, I find it amazing how much my mother suddenly got into water drag while swimming when she found out that I wear a jammer suit to the pool these days. I'm quite proud of the fact that I now can fit into a size 38 Speedo jammer, thank you very much, and now my mother's trying to talk me out of it and into one of those giant tents that people try to pass off as men's swimwear in this country. I'm like, no thank you, I like my jammer suits. I bought two of those things - one black and one dark blue. I had to remind my mother that she also wears a suit of the same material when she goes swimming, and yet she doesn't think drag is an important thing to have for her when she swims. Of course, it's not like she has to look at me in the suit, so whatever.
Categories: Clothing, Weight loss