I’m posting from the road this week and don’t have access to a scale, so I can’t tell you whether I’ve lost any weight or not; since I’m on a trip, my goal is simply to maintain, anyway. I’ll know how well I did when I get back home.

This is as good a time as any, though, to talk about what a lot of weight loss forums and sites refer to as NSV, or Non-Scale Victory. If you read my blog during my last weight loss effort a couple of years ago, you likely remember that I measured my progress by how my clothes fit, and I worked with goal pants and shirts. I haven’t really done that this time around, although I do still intend to use that as a tool.

Late last summer, I bought two pairs of Lane Bryant jeans, and they have plenty of stretch to them. Stretch is both good and bad for us plus-size women: it’s great for losing weight, because you can wear the jeans for much longer, but it’s equally great the other direction, too. I bought the jeans because I could no longer wear my regular Walmart jeans; I’d crossed into that embarrassing bubble butt phenomenon where I was constantly having to deal with tight jeans and pulling my shirt down over the tops of them. That’s never a comfortable feeling, at least for me. (I’ve seen my share of large women who don’t appear to have a problem with this, but I do. Talk about uncomfortable!)

So, I’ve been living in those LB jeans. I knew they were fitting better, but once again, they’ve got a lot of stretch, and it takes a pretty substantial weight loss to see a drop in size when you’re morbidly obese. Even though I’ve dropped nearly 40 pounds (yes, still sitting at -37.8), I have been hesitant to try on the bubble butt jeans. I’ve been ultra-careful about putting myself in situations where I might lose confidence in my efforts.

But… I did it. I tried on a number of jeans and pants in preparation for warmer weather, and I now have several more pair that I can wear, including the ones I ditched last summer because of bubble butt syndrome. They fit well, in fact! This makes me happy.

Clothing fit is just one of a variety of non-scale victories I need to remember when losing weight. Placing 98% of my hopes on a number is foolishness, especially when there are other objective methods for measuring success. I’ve been bad about taking measurements, and will when I reach the 40 pound mark; I want to make sure there’s a big enough difference for it to be measurable, and wearing a smaller, previously ill-fitting pair of jeans reinforces that.

There are, of course, the improvement in a variety of health issues, and those matter most of all. Inevitably, weight and measurements don’t matter if I am not healthier, as well.

NSVs that I’m looking forward to, since I’ve experienced them in the past: changes in size in things many don’t think about, like ring size, the way my glasses fit, shoe size. My feet tend to have a high arch, and when I am heavy, the arch relaxes with weight and my shoe size is larger. The size of my head narrows, and my glasses become looser. Necklaces fit better because my neck is smaller.

I have to remain diligent about my mental state while moving forward and making progress. I have to be careful to not let myself become too sensitive about trigger issues, like seeing myself in photos.

I’d like to thank those of you who wrote to me, both privately and publicly, and lending your support, suggestions, and input. You have given a lot to think about, and I greatly appreciate it; your suggestions helped me look at my mindset from different perspectives. Sometimes, that’s exactly what we need to stay on track.