Saturday, 2 Oct 2004
When I started BFL, I swore that I wouldn’t go shopping again until I’d finished at least one challenge and was at or close to goal weight.
Well, after a month of spoiled Florida weekends thanks to three separate hurricanes, I decided to treat myself to a trip to the posh Millenia Mall today for a free day meal at the California Pizza Kitchen (I had the Thai and Mediterranean spring rolls and a half BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad…and still couldn’t finish it all. 
My stomach demanded a break once I hit slightly over BFL portion size, LOL) and some clothing size testing.
I hit the Forever XXI store in search of a cheap party top to kick off my return to Singleton status and discovered that my new lack of frontal body fat (i.e. I’ve got no chest left) and 25″ waistline now put me firmly in Small territory for sleeveless tops and S/M for all others! Whee! My arms aren’t going to shrink into XS sizing since I plan to keep lifting weights and erm…I have no more body fat left to lose in my torso (sniffs) , so I figured it was safe to buy three cute party tops.
Next, I headed out to try some pants at a place with standardized sizing. Forever XXI is nice for trendy party clothes, but the pant sizes are all over the place. Anyhow, extended exposure to that store will cause the loss of IQ points in anyone over the age of 22 and under the age of 40. Besides yours truly, the entire clientele of that store consisted of 5′ tall tweeny boppers with the conversational depth of a Wheat Thin, round-shouldered, squishy hoochies bursting out of too-small tube tops who SHOULD be on BFL, and 40-something, artificially-tanned, breast-augmented sugar mamas towing their sheepish-looking boy toys around. LOL. Female intelligence and class do NOT display to advantage in clothing stores catering to the trendy, clubgoing set.
I wound up at the Gap and trotted into the fitting room with about eight skirts and pants to try on in sizes 4, 6, and 8. I could pull the 8’s on and off without unfastening them. 6 had some comfy room in the leg, but was 2″ too large in the low-rise waistband–a problem I run into a lot. 4’s were PERFECT. OMG. Size FOUR! :: faints ::
I started BFL in May as a comfy size 9/10 or 11/12 in bottoms and a stock size L in tops.
I celebrated by picking up three pairs of size 4 pants (on sale, of course).
I checked out the Juniors department on the way out through Macy’s, too. Size 5 or 7 in Juniors pants. 
Shopping is infinitely more fun when everything you try on looks good and skims your body properly..
Whee!
That reminds me…WHY do women insist on wearing clothes that are too small for them? I saw so many females at the mall today wearing hiphuggers that were digging into their sides, back, and bellies, making them look lumpy and flabby, even though most of them were young
and relatively slender. Then there were the not-so-slender gals in tube, spaghetti strap, one-shoulder, or tank tops and stretch jeans that were bursting at the seams. Lump, roll, lump, roll, lump. YUCK.
I don’t care if you CAN squeeze your fluffy assets into a size 8 or 6–if you, as my sister puts it, look like a size 14 sausage in a size 8 casing, you ain’t foolin’ anybody. Nobody is impressed by a woman who brags about being a size 6, but obviously needs to be in a 12. I wanted to shout, “If you have to suck in your breath to fasten it, that piece of clothing is NOT for you!”
It was also interesting to walk around and realize that most of the women I saw didn’t work out, at least not with weights. I’m sure there were plenty of droopy cardio bunnies there since the mall attracts upper scale clientele. The slender ones were either very young (12-24) and gangly with the the speedy metabolisms of youth, or older with the thin legs but thicker torsos and soft arms of a long-time cardio bunny. Everyone else was…average…as in part of the 66% of America that is overweight or nearly so. I was there for 4 hours, and only saw about five fit women who looked like they actively weight-trained.
I won’t deny that it was a huge ego boost for me since I looked quite good in comparison :wink:, but at the same time, the artist/seamstress/costume designer part of me was outraged at all the truly SUCKY, unflattering clothing choices the people around me were making. I probably just don’t go shopping enough in person here in the States to become numbed to the dowdiness of the typical American. I shopped a lot more when I was living in Germany, and let me tell you now, the European women had a lot more style on average than their American counterparts.
With so many fashion magazines available, you’d think we’d all be a little better dressed.
Okay, enough rambling. I’m going to go admire my new purchases in the mirror now.
I’m going to clean up a bit more around here, then dress up, head out to the nearest mall, and try on a bunch of new clothes. Don’t worry…I haven’t lost the frugal vibe. I’m only going to spend $20 max. I just want to know what retail size I should be wearing these days.