checkpoints

I've worked at my current job for going on 5 years now. Every year at around this time, they hold a semi-formal holiday party for their employees and spouses/guests. It's the only time of year I really get dressed up, and it's also the only time during the year that Rob and I have a picture taken together, usually.

This photo is handy from a weight loss perspective, because it always happens the first weekend in December, and the clothing is always formalwear of some kind. The hair is also pretty much the same. So, I can look back on the pictures and really see the changes in my body from year to year.

This year's party is this Friday, and I picked up my dress this past weekend. I'm pretty excited about it, because I managed to find an outfit that is, by far, the most flattering of the five I've bought. No satin (satin, control top hose, and flash photography don't mix), no spaghetti straps, it clings or drapes in all the right places. Of course, this is all through my eyes, which have been known to lie, especially about my reflection in a dressing room mirror. I could end up looking like a gussied-up mountain troll in the picture (again), but I'm hopeful that this will be my photogenic year.

Anyway, in preparation for the big event, I present the photos of holidays past, with commentary. Click to enlarge them, if you dare.

2001 - This was my first year with the company. I wasn't sure what to expect, just knew that I should dress up. Being me, I waited until the last minute to find something to wear, and being fat (I think around 210 at that time), shopping was a nightmare. I ended up at Dress Barn at 3 pm on the day of the party, frantically throwing clothes around a dressing room until I found something that didn't make me look like a parade float. I got to the party about an hour late, and as you can see, didn't worry so much about the hair. Not so sure what was up with my facial expression either. I look stoned.

2002 - And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my before picture. I was at my highest weight here, hovering between 217 and 220. I found that outfit a few days before the party, and it met the criteria that I had established for formalwear after a few weeks' search--1) non-binding in the waist, and 2) wide enough through the hips. I would have preferred something less grandma-of-the-bride, but at a size 20 doesn't leave you with many choices. This one was actually okay, except for being boxy. Really, it was my enormous moonface and (again) the lack of hair talent that sunk this year's picture. The worst part of it? Passing the photos around the table with my coworkers, and hearing, "Oh, that's such a good picture of y'all!" All I could think was if that was a good picture, there was a short circuit between my eyes and my brain. That woman looked NOTHING like the Joy I saw in the mirror. I started this site just about a month after this picture was taken.

2003 - Finally making some progress. I had lost 33 lbs at this point (I gained 7 lbs in December of 2003), and was totally fired up about how skinny I was going to look in the picture. I went all out--dress, hair, nails...it took all afternoon. And at the end of it all, I still wasn't happy with how the photo turned out. I did have to concede that I looked skinny compared to the year before, however, and that was enough. I was also mostly happy with the hair...considering that most of my hair was too short to do a traditional updo, it was something of an architectural marvel.

2004 - Again, thought this was going to be my year. Even though my weight was the same as the year before, pretty much, the dress was a size smaller. It was also not satin, because I had learned my lesson the year before about the perils of reflective materials and flash photography. After this one, I began to think that the photographer and/or the camera was the problem. I managed to not look like Olga the East German field hockey captain in my wedding pictures, after all, so surely this photographer has a knack for unflattering angles. Either that, or the wedding pictures were a fluke, and I truly have a face for radio.

So, there they are. In the 2004 picture, I weigh 184 lbs. Today, I weigh 178. When I post the picture on Saturday, we'll see how much of a difference those 6 lbs. make.

That's depressing.. Mine should be up in reverse. Watching a year by year climb up from my leanest ever in 2001 to my Shamu like physique of today. I'm tempted to have you take the picture by yourself tonight.

How did the picture turn out?

eh...okay. Neither of us are really smiling, and I would have looked better with my hair up, as it turns out. My head's turned at an unusual angle that makes it look like my neck and my face are all one big blob, and I should have turned my body more. So, pretty much par for the holiday picture. Of course, I was about 98% drunk when I last looked at it, so it may not be as bad as I thought. :)

It's currently in Rob's car, so I'll scan and post it tonight. Would have posted it earlier, but Saturday I was still recovering from the wine, and I had forgotten it by Sunday.