Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Flying fat

Here's what I'm thinking about today, as I prepare to go to Seattle for the Half Marathon:

THE LAST TIME I FLEW ON A PLANE, I WEIGHED 50 POUNDS MORE!

Followed quickly by my second thought:  what if I'm still too big for the airplane seat?

Ugh.  Why is that even in my head?  Well, it is.  I flew for work for several years (sometimes as much as 3 out of 4 weeks a month), and have always done plenty of flying outside of work as well.  However, after my layoff in 2010, I just really haven't done much flying.  When I DO fly lately, here's what I think about:
  • If I get an exit row seat, then the arm rest is immobile and I can just squish into the space between the armrests.
  • If I have a regular seat, the armrest moves up to accommodate my fat and I spend the entire flight pushing it back down and smiling apologetically at the person next to me.
  • And of course, the biggest fear of all:  will THIS finally be the flight that I have to ask for a seat belt extender?
  • If I at least had short legs, I could take up less room that way, but the fact is that I have long legs AND big hips, so basically, airplanes don't like me.
Tomorrow morning, I shall once again board a United Airlines plane ... for the first time since May 1, and ... well ... I hope that there's a noticeable difference in the seating!  Here are two pictures from that last trip - it was a very fun girls' week in NYC that had been planned for a while and then serendipitously fell right after being in Alabama to say goodbye to my grandmother.  That trip was just what I needed, but man, did I have a hard time keeping up with my younger, skinnier friends!  Here we are having our picture taken by a jogger who couldn't believe we were trying to take this shot ourselves.  He was all, "give me that camera, you dumb girls" in a nice and blustery nooyorky kind of way.  The other shot is us at Serendipity, a place known for its frozen hot chocolate and monstrous desserts -- don't bother going for the regular food.  What's funny about these two pictures is that although I'm clearly bigger here, there were LOTS of shots of me looking much bigger, but I deleted most of them.  LOL  Who knew I'd actually want a "huge" shot to show improvement later?  I just wanted to be rid of those ones I thought made me look extra big!  Oh, the irony of deleting a picture that is a true visual representation ...

Other than the plane trip, here is what I'm looking forward to:
  • Seeing my sister and her family (4 crazy boys!)
  • Seeing my oldest niece, who is flying in from Chicago
  • Walking the half marathon with Sharon 
  • Cheering on my sis, her oldest, and my niece as they run the half marathon
  • Pedicures on Monday
The weather in Seattle this weekend?  I'm not so much looking forward to.  In fact, we might make better time in a boat.  Either way, I'm going to do a Half Marathon on Sunday and earn that "13.1" sticker!

Oh, and here's something great: I prepared (American) Thanksgiving dinner last night because the hubs wanted some leftovers while I'm gone.  And I didn't even gain wait overnight!

5 comments:

  1. Good for you! Cheering you on from here! I'm sure you'll notice a difference. 50 pounds lighter - how could you not!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Fancy! I sure hope so! Thanks for the cheering :)

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  2. You are so awesome! And guess what? I've had all those issues on planes and I'm 5'2" so, believe me when I say that being shorter doesn't help much. It just means that my feet don't touch the floor when I sit down and I slide forward in seats and can't push myself back. I always want to be taller (or at least have longer legs). And every time I fly I worry that I'll have to ask for a seatbelt extender. :(

    Have fun in Seattle and ignore the weather. You're going to be just across the bay from my son and DIL in Victoria BC so give a wave for me and throw them a kiss, would you? TIA :D

    Great news that you didn't gain wait/weight overnight! You won't gain any in Seattle either, I'm betting, because you're going to walk off anything you eat there. :)

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  3. I'm looking forward to hearing how the flight compared, and how well you did. It looks as if you are wearing a sari in your photo. Also, all I see is beautiful when I see your photos- before and after - but am glad you are gifting yourself health. xxoo

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  4. I'm looking forward to hearing how the flight compared, and how well you did. It looks as if you are wearing a sari in your photo. Also, all I see is beautiful when I see your photos- before and after - but am glad you are gifting yourself health. xxoo

    ReplyDelete

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