Who Knew......
...shopping in your own closet could be so fun!
For at least three decades, when I purchased new clothes, they were usually the same size or more often they were increasingly bigger sizes. Sometimes I'd lose some weight and pull out a pair of smaller pants I'd recently retired, but then inevitably, back they'd go to their old resting spot with the other smaller clothes in the closet or basement.
So I, probably like many, have a wardrobe containing clothing in every letter, number or other embarrassing denotation (extra fluffy?) one can imagine. When I was pre-op, I asked my administrative assistant, the only person at work who knows about my WLS, to help me know if I was continuing to wear something that had gotten too big. It seems like it's really hard for people to evaluate themselves accurately about these kinds of things, so I wanted some help with this. And this week it happened. I came in wearing some PFBs (pants from before) and she said, "Oh no, I don't think so...those pants are making flapping noises when you walk!" Now this was both exciting and a little terrifying. I could only think of one other pair of PFBs that I was going to be able to wear to work (at this point, I'm not comfortable in skirts or dresses) and buying new pants, even for this exciting reason, is still my worst nightmare.
Before surgery, I had organized my clothing into piles labeled:
- Fit before surgery/Wear right after surgery
- Try a little while after surgery
- Try a little while after that
- Donate
- Discard
Then I also purchased some clothes online on clearance in a variety of sizes, maybe 6 shirts and a pair of stretchy capri exercise pants, sort of thinking that I'd be down a couple sizes by next summer. Yes, I know, it takes some people awhile...
So today I started by trying on those new shirts, the ones for next summer. They were a range of sizes, one size to three sizes below the size I've been wearing. They all fit, today, right now.
Then I tried on all my PFWBs (pants from way before). To my amazement, I now have five pairs of pants that fit, as well as some to donate and some for in a little while.
Next I tried on all the clothes I had slated to wear right after surgery. Hmmmm, shirts had become tunics and tunics had become dresses...and mostly not in a good way. Okay, time to reorganize and add to some of the aforementioned piles.
I started trying on the "Try a little while after surgery" and I found many more items that are working. Wow, I feel like I spent the day shopping and I didn't spend a dime! Not only that, it was some positive affirmation that this big effort, this daily grind of cottage cheese and calcium pills, is really working. Pretty soon I might even be able to say "when" I lose this weight instead of "if."
The last thing I tried on was the new stretchy capri exercise pants, 3 sizes below. I don't know why I tried them on; they clearly looked too small, but hey, it had already been a day of miracles and at least I'd have an idea of which pile to put them in for the future.
I'm wearing them right now.
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