Saturday, August 11, 2012

FFF + Project 333: Look, I'm cheating already!

My body and eating habits have decided that I'm a size 8, and I darn well better learn to live with it. Learn to love it? Ha. We'll see. But what better way to encourage myself to enjoy being me than with a closet of nothing but clothes that fit? I finally decided that I'm going to start Project 333 in September.

If I can only have 33 items, then they better be the perfect ones. Things are slowly coming out of my closet and going into three piles: keep for afterwards, use for Project 333, and discard.

First, I looked at the drawer where I keep my exercise clothes. I swim, bike, and run regularly (I'll do a sprint triathalon in 2013, I swear).

My selected biking clothes: one pair bike shorts, one pair bike leggings, one short-sleeve bike shirt, one bike tank. 

My selected running clothes:
one pair running shorts, one tank, one pair running leggings, one jacket.
Floppy the Bunny says, "My Human owns too many clothes from Lululemon!"
why did no one tell me about that loose ribbon?
But why can't I wear the purple running tank for biking and cut one item off the list? This lovely picture of me doing the macarena at my wedding should answer the question. See the spots on my skin to the left and right of the piece of fabric? Those are patches of vitiligo. I don't have any pigment there so I burn almost instantly. Sunblock delays the burn for a little while but not long. Two weeks before my wedding I went on a bike ride and wore a tank top. I put sunblock on but it wore off. The patch closest to my hair was still visibly pink two weeks after that ride.

I have to ride with my back covered. The white and purple bike shirt covers my entire back and is long enough in the back not to ride up.

Burning like this doesn't seem to be a problem when I run, though. I run in the early morning and evenings when there's only a little sunlight.

I haven't decided about my swimming items yet. I boxed up the few other athletic items I have.

This is where I cheat, though: I decided that my running clothes will be lumped together as one item, and the same goes for my biking clothes and swimming clothes. Why? Because Project 333 is about seeing how little you can live with, and after years at these sports at know that there is no way I am running in DC in early September in anything more than a tank top and shorts, and no way I'm running in November in less than leggings and a long-sleeve pullover. I can wear the jacket for running and cycling.

Friday's Fashion Fallout

One item I know I'm getting rid of is this old cycling shirt. It doesn't fit anymore. Even when it did fit the fabric was scratchy. Item 136 and today's Friday's Fashion Fallout item: a well-loved cycling shirt.

And its tag says....Made in U.S.A. Can't remember when I last saw that on a piece of clothing.


18 comments:

  1. I hear you on the sleeves thing... No WAY I can ride sleeveless, no amount of sunblock will keep my red-head skin from burning there!

    And I must say I'm slightly disappointed about the 333 thing... I was SURE it was gonna be a reference to my favorite Star Trek episode with the temporal distortion and all of the 3's!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hehe, that was a great episode! Okay, so I don't think I'll completely disappoint because the next outfit I'm going to cheat with does involve Star Trek, but that's for a later post. I'll leave you guessing for now!

      Delete
  2. I am sports and clothes obsessed and I have always thought about doing a clothing challenge. I was always deterred by the fact that my clothes for all of the sports I play (soccer, golf, tennis, running, walking, volleyball, yoga) all need different clothes!! Therefore I think each sport could definitely count as one item! Good luck :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh gosh I am EXACTLY the same way. I have so many sports jackets it's not even funny. I think the sport shoes are worse. Remember the days when everyone did all of their sports in sweat suits? Ha. But yes, I think I'm going to go easy on myself and count them as one item.

      Delete
  3. I thought with Project 333, workout clothes didn't count as items? And also work clothes?

    I think I saw that when I was looking into it lol. If so, that leaves you with a TON of clothes!

    Also, your wedding dress looks gorgeous!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh, thank you! gosh, if I leave out my work clothes I think I have bras and panties left, lol! I might end up skipping the workout clothes. We'll see how desperate I get. Thanks for letting me know!

      Delete
    2. I hate to admit this, but I've got at least 33 pairs of underwear. And no way I'm giving them up either 'cause it takes me about a month to dirty enough laundry to do a load in my super humongous washer! Guess I would be a dismal failure in this particular challenge!

      Delete
  4. I suppose the idea is to really analyse what you have and what you need, and the 33 thing is just a guideline/ motivator..I am sure that I have read about people doing it without counting sports clothes at all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. now that you mention it, I don't think I've seen just about anyone put workout clothes in their set of 33 items. I spend a lot of time in them though, so maybe it's only fair. I own three swimsuits, two pairs of workout shorts, three leggings in total, a bunch of workout jackets, etc....I think I need the motivation!

      Delete
  5. A friend of mine did Project 333. She did not count undies, accessories or exercise wear at all. She also found that the weather changed dramatically during her three months and consequently involved digging out some extra items. She threw away only a few clothes and boxed up most things. But she did learn to live with less, which is the whole purpose. I wish you success on Project 333. I know you will achieve your goals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Louise! It sounds like it worked out great for your friend, and that's an inspiration to me.

      Delete
  6. Yeah, I think I read that workout clothes didn't count toward the 33 items. I packed up most of my closet this morning in prep to move into the rv. I know I have more than 33 items, but a quick count came in around 50 incl shoes. =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, 50 is pretty awesome! I think I used to own almost 50 pairs of shoes in college. My minimalist boyfriend told me I spent too much money and it was one reason we couldn't stay together. And now I realize that 50 pairs of shoes is not a good thing. 50 total items is though!

      Delete
  7. Congrats! I started Project 333 last spring, but that was right after I first injured my back and thought I'd be returning to work soon. Well, not so much. I'm still not back and my injury happened on March 18th, so most of the clothes I set aside to wear to work have gone untouched since I haven't had a reason to wear them. I've been pretty much homebound and have been wearing loungewear which doesn't even count in the 33. So, there you have it. But, I did get rid of over half my closet that first go round. When I get my injury figured out, I'll take another pass at it. I've got tons of Bikram yoga and dance wear, but with the new metal plate in my spine, I'm not sure what I'll be able to do or even when. I m in a state of limbo with the workout clothes. Even though the workout clothes don't count towards the 33, I still purged the ones from when I was a size 2. Way too much pressure to keep those bad boys around.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh gosh, I hope you're okay! Maybe it's not so bad to have the yoga and work clothes around even if you can't use them. Are they inspiring you to get better, or just making you miserable? Yoga clothes always inspire me to go to yoga more because I want to wear them. Funny how though having clothes that are too small never inspired me to get over my eating disorder. Strange how that is. I really hope your recovery goes smoothly, and I am *so* glad to hear that you're recovered from ED. Every person I see who's recovered is one more voice of encouragement. Thank you!

      Delete
  8. Hi there Joanna (I'm Joanna too!)
    Just stumbled upon your blog yesterday :)
    As I understand Project 333, you exclude workout clothes but you're only supposed to be wearing them while exercising. I would say that if you wear them at other times, include them in the count (ditto with loungewear, if that's the majority of what you wear like in Kandice's experience).
    But I do know that if your needs change during the 3 months you can switch stuff out - if the weather shifts, or something wears out, you can switch it with something in storage/new. At least that's what all the Project 333 bloggers I have read do.
    Of course you can make any rules that work for you and your goals! I don't do Project 333 or anything like that, but I only have a certain number of hangers and a certain amount of space in my closet (4 feet for everything, every season, outerwear as well, no dresser either so tops have to be hung too) so that puts a limit on what I can accumulate!
    Jo:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Joanna! Thanks for dropping by. Thanks for the tips about how to do Project 333. I'm still learning so your comment is super helpful. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again on the blog!

      Delete
  9. Ahhh wedding bike burns! I ended up with crescents on my back, because I had put sunscreen on with a new sleeveless bike shirt, but then when you reach forward, you expose a little bit more skin. *sigh*

    ReplyDelete

Please be kind :o)

If you try to advertise your online business by writing a comment on this blog, please don't bother because I will delete it.