Fat Clothes

This is something I have been meaning to write about for quite a while. I have lost around 45 pounds in the last year and a half. It feels really good to be down by that much but on the other hand it also sometimes feels like just a drop in the bucket.

At least on my negative days.

Yesterday, Courtney and I went into this new pet store that has opened for business called Petland. They have puppies and Courtney was simply dying to show them to me. The place is next to where we get our nails done.

Yes, Courtney seems to be intent on keeping her new nails. Especially after she read my post about them.

Okay. Me, Courtney, pet store. My point.

My point here is that one of the girls (well more of a young woman I guess) who works there used to work at the Store HOT TOPIC. HT was Courtney's favorite store for quite a few years. She has outgrown it now and really never goes in there. But, when she was one of their most devoted customers she was always dragging me in there. (IE, I was the one with the money.) Well this young women that knew Courtney (and me too apparently) saw me as she came over to offer us help and the first thing she said to me was, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe how much weight you've lost!"

That felt really good.

It would have felt even better, of course, if I had lost enough weight to not still be big, but, ya know what? I'm willing to take an honest compliment any time, anywhere. This of course, doesn't really have a whole lot to do with my chosen topic today, but I figure it does make for nice filler. Plus part of my point is that I am smaller than I used to be.

What I really want to talk about are Fat Clothes.

I know this is sometimes a problem with regular sized clothes as well but if you aren't needing clothing any larger than a size 14 I invite you to "come take a walk in my shoes." First of all let me paint a picture for you of how clothing manufacturers see us big girls.

Apparently our arms hang past our knees.

This is quite evident in the fact that almost every long sleeved top in a plus size has arms that hang anywhere from an inch or two past my hands to oh, maybe a foot. I do realize that I am a short n fat, as opposed to a medium n fat or a tall n fat. But I refuse to believe that even the tallest of we big girls has an eight foot arm span. I don't THINK so. I do find plenty of nice, long sleeved tops that fit me quite nicely of course. I just have to hem up the sleeves. That is somewhat harder with a sweater or a jacket. I do admit that sometimes you just get lucky and stumble across some really nice looking sweater with sleeves not designed for your average Neanderthal. Of course at least part of the time the sleeves are short enough because they are actually three quarter length.

Yes indeed. The good ol, three quarter length sleeves, are a big girls best friend.

Next. Shoulders.

It seems that these same manufacturers believe that any women past a size 14 has linebacker shoulders. I swear, this is true. I can't count how many times I will see a cute top, and take it to the dressing room and try it on, only to discover that it's neck is so wide and deep that the only way it will work for me is if I don't mind mind half of my bra showing. And, on the off chance that the top I am trying on has a small neck it is pretty much a sure thing that the shoulder lines will be practically down to my elbows. If you can't picture what a shoulder line is, it is where the top of the sleeve meets the end of the shoulders.

Yeah. You see? Not a pretty picture.

Believe it or not, I am still not done with arms.
Say you pick out a short sleeved top. As long as it is a knit top it's not usually a big deal. But, and this is a big one. If you happen to like one of the many woven (that means not a knit for those not so familiar with fabric terms) tops that are so ubiquitous now a days, well, all I can say, is you better beware of those tight sleeves. I actually covered this in one of my past posts titled "Susan's fashion flubbery".
If you are needing a plus sized woven top, as many of us do, then don't be surprised if it fits quite nicely everywhere but the sleeves.

They will be too tight.

If I want one of these kinds of tops, I will almost always need a size that is way too big on me just so the stupid sleeves won't be too tight. I absolutely HATE that. So along with them thinking we have really long arms (they probably picture us all with hairy knuckles too, I bet) they also see us with super big broad shoulders, but then, in spite of the arms and the shoulders, they assume we have slender arms.

I don't get that. I really don't.

Have any of you ever seen a large woman who had shoulders that would make a football player proud, bent over slightly, moving herself along with her long yet amazingly thin arms (picture a gorilla)??? Well, HAVE you??? I thought not.

Now, if you will further humor me, I believe I will take on. . . .

Pants.

Yes pants. I think that plenty of you average sized ladies might even be able to relate to some of this. What is it with pants anyway? How hard can it be for manufacturers to make jeans and trousers that fit and flatter most body types? And please, please, for the love of all that is good and decent, don't ever assume that just because a label says something like; "Sized to fit your body", or, "Slim fit, We promise these jeans will make you look a size smaller". Please don't think for a moment that you can believe those labels. In fact it has been my experience that businesses who want to cover up something that consumers will undoubtably be unhappy with, they will slap a "For your convenience" or a "To better serve our customers" sign up. Hoping of course that their customers will be so impressed by those fancy sounding promises that they won't realize that prices have been raised or customer service has been cut back.

Never trust those signs. They are all "code" for, SUCKERS!!!

I digress,
back to the horrors of pants shopping for the larger woman. It can be extremely hard to find a pair of plus sized pants that don't have a huge stomach and thighs combined with a much smaller waistband. I don't get it. Doesn't it stand to reason that if you fit into the waistband that maybe, just maybe you don't need all that extra room in the stomach and thighs? Now I don't have a problem with a relaxed fit. No, because generally if you are a little bit bigger than the norm, chances are that you won't have washboard abs.

I just don't think it is necessary to have a waistband followed by a tent.

And then if they are a so-called "fitted" fit, they are so tight past the waistband that if you manage to squeeze into them you better not plan on sitting down for the day. Why can't they make a pair of pants that fit in the waistband, aren't puffy in the stomach, and have just enough room in the thighs and legs to allow you to comfortably sit, (we all are at our biggest while sitting you know) but not make you look much bigger than you really are while standing?

Could someone please give me an answer to that one.

A little more nitpickery. So many jeans and other pants these days claim to be made out of STRETCH fabric. Some of them are nice and stretchy. These are wonderful. They can be a little more form fitting while still being very comfortable. Sitting down? Ahhh, so nice to not feel squished in a pair of jeans that while standing in them felt perfect. Bending over? How nice that I don't leave my pants behind my behind. They actually move with me. Yes stretch fabrics are such a great idea, that there's no way a man could have had anything to do with them.

The problem though is fake stretch fabrics.

Once again you can't take the label's word for anything. A lot of jeans and pants say stretch today. But quite a few of them have no more stretch in them than your average towel. This is where you really need to try on.

Try on and, trust your own instincts.

Don't think that there is something wrong with you because they don't seem to have nearly as much stretch in them as your frayed, holey, patched up pair of your "wear them almost every day" old favorites. The truth is that many pants that say they are stretch, for all practical purposes, are NOT. So be real careful when you go to try them on. These are NOT shoes. They won't develop more stretch the longer you wear them. They will most likely remain as unstretchy on the day they are completely worn out as the day they were brand new.

I have lost enough weight now that quite often I can fit into the regular sized extra larges. That might not sound like such a big deal, but for someone who has lived in plus size hell for many years now it is quite an accomplishment. In fact I don't really care if I never get down to my old normal of size 6 to 8. That would be great of course but I won't ever count on it.

I'm too much of a realist.

What will really be my crowning achievement, will be the day I can walk right by the "Women's Plus" aisle and know that if I want a really good fit I need to go to regular sizes and try on a large to extra large.

A small dream but hopefully, an achievable one.