Fantastic news about your tiny BR jeans - congrats! Your mother will be awestruck, even if she thinks size 12 is best.
I share Elisse's view - someday, I would like to be able to go in and buy
something other than cologne at Banana Republic, regardless of its size - their skinny menswear wouldn't fit on one of my legs, presently, so I usually just press my nose against the BR store window and weep silently whenever I'm at the mall....
As far as this whole "muffin top" prejudice that appears on this forum, why are muffin tops so disrespected, people?

Everyone loves muffin tops, at least pre-WLS dumping. As I recall, there was a great "Seinfeld" episode in which some of the characters started a bakery selling nothing but muffin tops (which sold like hotcakes, er - like muffin tops), but then they couldn't get rid of the muffin bottoms - even the homeless refused to take them!