I lost 40 pounds ... and nobody noticed.
Well, my husband Robert noticed because I kept shoving my rapidly slimming body against him, saying, “Check it out, don’t I feel wonderful?”
But nobody else noticed. How is that possible? 40 pounds!
I have a couple of theories.
No one noticed because no one was interested. It’s a sad reality. Hard to believe no one was all about me and my body. Everyone else was too busy, with their own feelings of inadequacy, their own issues of self-doubt, their own battles at office politics, to notice my huge conquest (except for Robert, but he had help).
And, really, it’s only fair; my success was my prize and no one else’s.
But what isn’t fair is that when you lose 40 pounds, you lose more than breast, belly and butt. You lose weight where you didn’t even realize weight existed: my rings became looser, my shoes got bigger on my feet. No one sees that. Forty pounds spread out over a large area is a little hard to discern.
But, I think the biggest reason that no one noticed (except Robert) is clothes. I didn’t change my wardrobe.
My clothes got more and more snug as I gained the weight initially. No one saw that my waistband was uncomfortable and no one saw that my panties rode up (well, maybe they did).
Then I began to lose the weight and my clothes began to bind less. We’re talking a weight loss of 15 pounds. Did I buy new clothes? No, that would have been rather pointless, now wouldn’t it?
Then my clothes actually became comfortable and began to fit. Here, we’re talking a weight loss of 25 pounds. Did I buy new clothes? Why would I – my clothes actually fit for the first time in a long time.
Eventually, those same clothes became loose and started to hang on me. Oh, happy day!  This amounted to a weight loss of 35 pounds. Did I buy new clothes? No, because I wasn’t finished with my weight loss and it would be silly to spend the money already.
There is nothing that irritates as much as clothes that are too small and there is nothing that makes you look bigger than clothes that droop and sag. Throughout all that hard-won weight loss, I looked exactly the same to the rest of the world.
So, I took the plunge and actually bought a new pair of pants for summer ... pants that fit not later, but now. In them, I shimmy and I shake, I wiggle and I weave, my hips bump and my butt grinds. I call them my “happy pants” and when I wear them I am oh so special!
I know that jaws drop and eyes pop and breathing becomes difficult whenever I walk by,  and that’s only the women. I feel real smooth, real sexy and real skinny.  And, I know in them I can do anything. They are absolutely magic!
I lost 40 pounds and what did I learn? Other people are too preoccupied with unimportant things. My body secretly stashes weight.
And all I need in life is some happy pants . . . and Robert.

Els Lundgaard is an international speaker, teacher, writer and participant on various health organization around the world. You can reach her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .