who saw the new episode of what not to wear last night? the makeover lady had been thin until having a baby. she's larger now and still trying to lose the weight.

but her baby is now 4 years old!!!

and the one thing stacy/clinton were trying to get her to understand about how wearing all those baggy, dumpy clothes was affecteing her was that if you don't love yourself and at least accept the shape of your body as it is now, you will never be able to see yourself as you really are and then have the spark in you to get to the size you want to be.

by the end of the show, she'd gotten it.

have y'all had that experience yet?

Baggy clothes syndrom..... yep I have it. I wear nothing form fitting b/c I don't want everyone..including me... looking at every bulge, nook and cranny.

I don't think they mean form fitting, but more nice classy clothes. My older sister was fortunate to marry a man that could provide his wife and kids with a good substantial living. Sis is big like me, but she always looks great - hair, makeup, nails, perfume, really nice clothes. She didn't flaunt it - she is just always nicely dressed. I think it does make a difference in how you feel. Now as for me - I shop the sale rack at Wal-Mart !! lol

Terry :scared:

I know when I am in clothes that fit nicely and have my hair and make-up fixed nicely, I feel good and exude a positive attitude. Just because I'm fat does not mean I can't myself look as presentable as possible.

The type of clothes you wear can make all the difference. When you wear clothes that fit well you feel soo much better about yourself and in my experience people treat you better. I have noticed that while some bigger people wear baggy clothes others try to fit into clothes that are much too small. I know i'm guilty of doing both but i have come to relize that when the clothes fit properly i feel more self confident. And plus with the baggy clothes or clothes that are too tight I tend to look bigger than i am.

It all comes down to treating yourself like you would treat your friend. You wouldn't buy your friend bad-fitting, shabby clothes, would you? Let's treat ourselves as if we were our very best friend in the whole world!

mousecrazy, i love that!

i'm changing the focus of my health to be from the inside out. holistic health. we'll see how far i delve into it. but body acceptance is pretty high on the list.

for so long i've focused on my health from the outside in--because my insides are already very healthy. but i've been doing myself and my psyche a huge disservce by seeing myself as body parts instead of as the "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God human being that i am.

I don't know about anyone else here, but for the past ten years, my weight has either been on the way up or on the way down. Buying nice clothes that fit well is luxury I can't afford. When "the size you are now" is unlikely to be the size you are next month, or two months from now, you just buy clothes with a lot of stretch and hope for the best. I truly hate the way I dress right now, but I've given up. Shopping for new stuff all the time is too depressing and too expensive.

It makes such good sense to love your body at any size -- but I have some work to do in that area. I avoid looking in mirrors and store fronts where I can see my reflection. I see someone else - not me. I see a bloated, frumpy, matronly person staring back at me. I don't even change my clothes in front of my new wonderful husband. Lights dim whenever possible - I use the excuse that I love candlelight....

I am hoping to have my lap-banding in the fall. Doing all the paperwork and have my first appointment on July 25th. The psychologist will probably have a field day with me!

http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/3;8;127;0;0/c/-23/t/-117/k/cd7a/weight.png

Rachel

I honestly dont care what you weigh or what you look like. Do the best with what you have!!! I've been the same size, before the banding, forever. I'm the chick with 35 pairs of pants, 20 of them black. lol I always loved clothes, make-up, jewelry...you name it. Pick the right colors, hold your head high, and strut! Get your hair done, try a new color. Always wanted to be a red head...do it! Its amazing how much better you feel when your wearing a nice fitting flattering outfit no matter what size than my oh so favorite outfit, the dreaded jogging pants and huge T-shirt look. BLECK!! UGH I've never owned a pair of jogging pants in my life! lol

Buying nice clothes that fit well is luxury I can't afford. When "the size you are now" is unlikely to be the size you are next month, or two months from now, you just buy clothes with a lot of stretch and hope for the best. I truly hate the way I dress right now, but I've given up. Shopping for new stuff all the time is too depressing and too expensive.

I frequent several resale shops in my area, and I never fail to find a bargain. I've bought lots of Talbot labels, Ralph Lauren, Gap, and others. Yesterday's find was a very nice pair of dressy Merona capri pants.

And a lot of these places benefit battered women's shelters, church mission projects, etc. I donate everything back once I've shrunk to the next smaller size.

I've never hated myself - but the baggy clothes, its easy to fall into that trap. I used to do it until I saw a girlfriends on night walk into a restaurant and I didnt even recognise her. She was always overweight (not obese) and after having 2 babies, continued to wear skin tight clothing. She'd do stuff like wear a really tight white lycra Tshirt and still have on a big maternity bra and nursing pads, which you could see through her top. Stuff like that, it looked awful. Ocassionally one of us would bitch to the other, "God, why doesnt she wear some appropriate clothes".

Until those Gypsy shirts came in fashion a few seasons back, she walked into girls night one night wearing a big flowing thing and I didnt even realise it was her. My goodness, she went from being plump (a bit too plump for the clothes she chose) to looking mammoth. I realised right then that you're fat you're fat, you cant hide it under your clothes.

And I guess I'm lucky that financially we're comfortable, we need to watch what we spend, but I've bought well fitting decent clothes knowing that they wont fit me this time next year. I"m not going to hide in a sack until I get to goal.

Even so if you have rolls round your middle, it doesnt look good to show it ALL off, lol. But I've been brave as I've lost and though I dont wear really tight stuff, I wear much more fitted clothes now, and I'm sure that a lot of the weightloss people recognise is simply from me not hiding my body (and having had my hair straightened makes a HUGE difference to my face too).

I always wear my shirts a bit too large because I don't want my fat rolls to show. What I am bad about, is I find an outfit or two that I think I look fairly decent in, and I wear it all the time, everywhere. People probably think I can't afford anything else. The other really hard thing for me was when even Lane Bryant clothes didn't come in large enough sizes for me, that really hurt.