Non-Scale Victories

In weight loss terminology, people talk about non-scale victories, meaning victories apart from the specific amount of weight you've lost. I thought I'd share a few of mine!

• starting to be able to shop in the non-plus sections! 
• not getting out of breath, even running for buses, etc
• shrinking out of every piece of clothing I own (lol - this one is a challenge as well as a victory...)
• no more asthma
• no more sore joints or stiffness. At one point, for about six months, my right shoulder had become so stiff that I had trouble raising my arm to write on the board while teaching classes, bending it far enough to affix my bra strap, even swimming turned into a limited motion activity. No longer! 
• no more general nasal congestion (which I previously always blamed on allergies!) 
• more flexibility
• being able to cross my legs at the knee (comfortably!) 
• this one's a number, but: having lost 17 inches on my waist! (And bought three new belts since then... the last one I bought has holes all the way around it, so hopefully it should last much longer!!)
• having way more energy than I've had since I was a teen
• having completely normal, stable results in my blood work: no problems with my cholesterol, blood sugar, liver enzymes, etc etc
• having the discipline of fasting and regulating my eating spilling into other areas of my life: my apartment is clean, I'm maintaining the spiritual disciplines I've been set, I work efficiently and am generally more organized than ever before, etc
• better balance
• I never get sick, whereas I used to get a good 4-6 colds/sinus infections per year! I haven't been sick since last Christmas, aka not since before I started this, apart from the dreaded (but very temporary) keto flu - this is a typical thing that happens for people when their bodies make the metabolic shift into burning fat stores for energy rather than relying on ingested sugars (carbs) for energy. It's not pleasant, but it goes away fairly quickly!
• better skin, thanks to the magic of autophagy (bodily housekeeping, more or less: the body uses up old pieces of protein (amino acids) lying around, blocking new cell growth, etc). This includes things like loose skin from weight loss, which most people using this method don't typically experience, skin tags, moles. My complexion is also clearer than it used to be! 
• not needing a seatbelt extender when I fly
• I just noticed recently that I seem to have stopped experiencing weight-phobic behaviour. It's an amazing change! Fatphobia is the last unchallenged area of prejudice and literally every overweight woman I've ever known has experienced it, as well as many overweight men. It's ugly and the lack of this has really improved my quality of life!! 
• no more swollen feet/ankles after a long day
• regular hormonal cycles
• being able to wear things like tights and other styles of clothing that I never would have dared before
• increased mental clarity
• this one is very specific to singing, but my voice has become more flexible, too! 

I could go on and on, but the list grows all the time, and it's fantastic. I'm so glad that I made this change! Fasting and eating this way get easier all the time, too! My entire quality of life has been vastly improved by this, and it will go on improving as I go! I'm really happy about this!