This little green number was my very first real flamenco dress. I ordered it from Molina in Spain and was thrilled when it arrived and fit perfectly. I danced my first big student show in it in December 2009 and remember feeling pret-ty darn sexy. I was officially a flamenca!

The following spring I wore it again when I danced my first solo. I was so nervous about my debut that I put in many extra hours to make sure I didn’t humiliate myself. A couple weeks before the show, I realized I had burned off a few too many calories because my frock had become loose and unflattering. I had it altered to fit my new body and went out there to do my soloista thing, feeling confident and sexy (about the dress, anyway).

After that the dress hung in my closet for nearly a year, until I thought about wearing it in the show we did this past March. I tried it on a few weeks before showtime and was pleasantly shocked to find the dress was too big! I hadn’t even noticed I’d lost weight. I took it in for another alteration; unfortunately, it wasn’t ready in time for our performance. Oh well, next time, I thought.

So it seemed our upcoming September show would be the perfect opportunity to break out my green dress once again, since I haven’t worn it in so long and it had been freshly altered. So I tried it on last night for the heck of it: It’s HUGE. Wha?!?

Yes, you’ve already heard me say I’ve lost some weight in the last month but I had no idea it would make that big of a difference in the way my clothes fit. Seriously, the dress needs to be taken in everywhere; it looks like it wasn’t made for me. And that’s without the stretchy contraption I wear under it to smooth things out. Every part of  me has either shrunken or shifted. Just to give you a point of reference — and this is probably over sharing, but whatever, I’m OK with that — I started this journey with D’s. I’m not kidding. D’s. Those babies are long gone. I’ve quite literally danced my ass off and more.

I’ve never been one to count pounds or inches. I’ve always been generally comfortable (or at least accepting) with the ups and downs my body has taken over the years with age, hormones, health issues and stress, so I don’t mean for all this to come off as, “Oh hey, look at how awesome and skinny I am!” No, for me it’s more of an amazement at how a woman in her late 30s can slowly, steadily transform her body (and soul!) by simply doing what she loves.

It’s taken four years to get here but I feel better than I’ve ever felt in my life.