Please stop me spiralling…

[fourelementary]

I have recently been losing weight to try to get to a healthy BMI by calorie counting and improving my activity levels. I have been quite happy recently as I am nearly at a healthy BMI with maybe 6-7 lbs to go to get there and about 1-1.5 stones to go to ideal weight. I’m in my 40s and quite tall with big boobs so not aiming for a super low weight at all.
Ive been trying to boost my weight loss pre holiday by sticking to around 1200 calories when my maintenance calories would be around 2000…
Today I stupidly measured for a new bra as mine feels loose but then measured my waist and it is still a large 35 inches- despite me now fitting into most supermarket/next size 14s which I felt so chuffed with.
I now feel like a big fat frump and am trying not to end up drowning my sorrows in a tube of Pringles… I have had a bit of a history of binge eating so it’s meant a lot to manage to have a slow and steady loss and I do feel I am now becoming a bit “all or nothing” about it and edging towards to less healthy choices by restricting quite so much… but having seen my wasnt size I am now even more feeling like I should starve myself a bit more as I’m clearly still a fat whale.

You probably just need to tone your waist a bit. I expect it's lots of skin and loose muscles. Don't give up, start some stomachs. Look up YouTube videos and try out a couple you like. There are lots of 8 minute videos.

Also buy some of those suck-in pants and then measure again! I bet you'll be delighted. That's what people see!

Ps. My waist was 102cm and my bust not much bigger so I didn't even have that to compensate. But I'm getting there slowly. Started to lose the weight, now to start some exercise.

You are not a fat whale. You are a person who is doing their best to be more healthy. Keep it up, and don't be so hard on yourself.
Best of luck, and congratulations and a pat on the back for taking action.

Op, waist size isn't necessarily in your control if you're in your forties. Hormone changes mean that we start to carry more fat on our stomachs than we did before, and it happens to almost everyone, including skinny people. Its actually because we start producing oestrogen there, oddly enough! So whilst we might be able to influence it by diet and exercise to some degree, it isn't necessarily something we can change. Be kind to yourself!

Focus on what you have achieved. Focus on improved health, weight loss, higher self esteem. There's all the time in the world ahead to tone up! It's not a problem, you are well on the way to being where you want to be. Massive well done! You can do this! You've come so far already! There is no rush to do everything at once, you're getting there. You should be feeling very proud.

Can you try put it into a different context? You say you are tall, how tall? The ‘healthy zone’ is your waist being half your height, so if you are 5ft 10 ish then that’s actually pretty good, or as near to that as it ought to be? This is how I try to see it myself.