Last time I was on call, I apparently injured my spare tire with my pager clip. On my post-call day, I discovered this sore spot in a very soft area around my left waist-hip junction. It was red. The skin bore a 2cm abrasion. Five days later it still has not healed completely.

I know what you are thinking…..

….”Who on earth wears a pager? In 2013?”

While use of this now archaic communication device was obviously the greatest risk factor for sustaining such a work-related injury, I could have taken some preventative measures as well, say by losing the spare tire. This, however, is incredibly hard to do.

Everyone’s body picks its favorite spot to accumulate weight. That spot, then, is usually the very last one to shed weight when pounds are lost or muscles are toned. In most of my women friends, this spot happens to be the bottom and the hips. Not me though. I tend to pack my weight where middle aged men do.

These last several months, as I have worked towards a more powerful core and increased cardiovascular endurance through pilates, running, zumba, and now the occasional barre class, this trouble spot of mine has become more obvious. Almost paradoxically, the increased mass and tone of the gluteal muscles, the transversalis, rectus, and oblique abdominal muscles, and the lats have increased the prominence of this wheel of fat that envelops my lower anterior waist/lumbar triangle area. I am convinced it will only go away after I shed these last 15lbs. Now, to be sure, the tire has gone more from SUV to compact car due to my efforts at exercising and eating habitually well; but still, I’d like the deflate this thing once and for all.

Meanwhile, in addition to this persistent extra auto part around my waist, I do have other troubling signs and symptoms of weight loss. These are the things that create hassles despite the dial on the scale going in the desired direction. I will review just a few of these troubling signs and symptoms of weight loss below.

The watch that I have had going on 6 years now is too big. I am annoyed that it spins around on my wrist but it is just such a pain to remove the links that I have ignored this annoyance for some months now. Yesterday, I had a ring just fly off my hand because it is so loose. I don’t really want to wear my wedding ring on a different finger so I will have to put that on my list of things I will never get around to getting done. My thighs no longer touch when I wear yoga pants or running tights. Luckily, given the range of spandex and elastane, this sign and symptom of weight loss has not resulted in another item on my to-do list and therefore is not particularly troubling.

What is most troubling though are the signs and symptoms of weight loss evident in my slacks. Despite all my hard work, none of the slacks that I currently own are too big at the waist. Nope, not a single one. The spare tire (see above) does a fine job keeping these slacks on my waist but they are loose, really unflatteringly loose,  through the hips, thighs, and legs. The result, unfortunately, is what you might think is a growing obsession with palazzo pants. While some say that these are coming back into style, this is not a fashion trend I am willing to hold on to the spare tire for.

So I guess I will put buy ‘new pants’ right under ‘lose spare tire’ on the to-do list.