bloated and gross

This morning, I woke up bloated and with a familiar nagging cramp in my belly. I felt gross and fat all day.

Tonight was Meet the Teacher night at school, and I made myself get all gussied up, knowing that I'd be seeing school-mom friends, some of whom hadn't laid eyes on me since May. I must admit, I was looking forward to the accolades.

But not a single person mentioned my weight loss. (Tina, bless her sweet heart, DID say "You look wonderful", but I'm not counting her, 'cause she's seen me off and on all summer.) Others have told me that I look like a different person, so I find it hard to believe that people who haven't seen me in so long didn't notice at all.

Just a few minutes ago, another friend who's losing weight mentioned the same wonder. "Why don't people notice? I keep thinking people will say something!" And another friend said, "Weight loss is a sensitive subject. People who don't know us well will hesitate to say anything, because it could be misconstrued as a backwards insult." As in... telling someone they look they've lost weight could be misinterpreted as, "Are you saying I NEED to lose weight?" It's just the way women are, so other women tend to tread lightly around sensitive subjects. I understand that, and I'm glad my friend pointed it out.

Thinking about tonight at school, I did notice one mom give me the up-and-down once-over on her way to hug me. And the other moms? I'm sure they noticed, too, but wondered if they should say anything or not. I like to imagine that as they watched me walk away, their conversation went a little something like this:

"Look at her butt!"
"I know. It's TINY"!
"She must have lost 4 cup sizes."
"It's taken 10 years off her."
"I wonder how much she's lost?"
"How's she doing it?"
"Who's gonna ask her on Monday?"

LOL! My butt's not tiny.
Yet.
A girl can dream.

oh - and Darren reminded me that even all Bloated and Gross (that would be a cool name for a girl band. Or... not.), my newest skinny pants still fit comfortably. True, that. Thanks honey!