Woo hoo weight!

I think I read a statistic awhile ago that said that it takes 4 weeks of exercise for your body to start changing, 8 weeks for you to start noticing changes, and 12 weeks for those around you to notice those changes.  It makes sense - it takes time for your body to adapt and change, and then time for you to start seeing the difference on yourself, your wardrobe, how you feel, etc.  Being an impatient person, I've often wondered in the last few months whether all this half-marathon running/training was worth it because I didn't see much of a difference in myself at all.  In my 12 weeks of training for the half, I lost 8 pounds.  8.  That's it.  Most people in my position would probably have lost 20!  My body sucks.  In my 12 weeks of training, I also never saw a change in my general shape in regards to what I saw in the mirror or how clothes fit (in actuality, the circumference of my thighs grew an inch - oops).  Really, truly, I began to wonder if I just wasn't running or burning calories correctly.  Dumb but true.

In the past week, though, I've had three different people I see on a regular basis comment on how slim I'm looking.  What?  The scale hasn't changed much at all - I've gone from 8 pounds lost to 9.  My running hasn't changed much either - actually, I've gone from four days a week of training to five days a week to (hopefully) improve my 5K times.  I'm still doing a really long run on the weekends (7-10 miles, depending on what I feel like).  My diet is the same it has been for awhile too.  I must have reached my 12-week "noticing" point!  Hahaha!  So, this evening, I tried to see if I could find more issues that I might have bypassed in my general state of frazzlement lately.  Here's what I found:

1.  Most of my work pants will not stay up now without a belt. 
2.  My "small" jeans fit.  YAY!
3.  I generally wear size L in my running clothes, XL for tops when I want a lot of room in them (clothing today is generally too tight, even at my normal L size).  My size L running shorts and capris are having problems staying on me (I usually don't notice because I tie them).
4.  TMI - my underwear is too big.  Who has that problem?!?
5.  I have hips!  Oh, wow!  Hello there, hips, I've never seen you before!!!!
6.  I like my calves.  Like, a LOT. 
7.  I have really crappy tan lines for my socks, shorts, and shoes, neverminding the one of my forehead from the day I went for a long run with my visor on too low so the top of my forehead got semi-burnt.  Oops.
8.  I should really pay attention to those damn memes that point out that 5 pounds of muscle are a heck of a lot smaller than 5 pounds of fat. 

I'm happy.  Truly!  I feel good, I'm seeing progress, others are noticing, and I'm not afraid to get on the scale.  9 pounds down for the year - 6 more to go, and even if I don't get there by the end of the year, I know I'll be 1000% more in shape by the end of the year anyway!