So as I sit here and type this I think it is important to give you a bit of history as to how I came here. For the last nine months, hubby and I have been following a Keto way of eating (WOE). What that means is that we eat high good fats, moderate protein and low carbs. Low carbs in the area of less than 20 grams a day. To give you an idea that is one average sized potato or the bottom of a hamburger bun. They call this a WOE because truly you’re changing your thinking about food, which in turn is changing your body. So with this new WOE has come weight loss. And with this weight loss has come the need to purchase new clothing. Now for a girl who has been in the plus sized world her whole life, moving out of that world into the “normal” store world is a bit daunting. In the plus sized world, I knew that when I walked into the store, it would be people who looked like me. Either a little bit smaller or a little bit bigger, but at the end of the day if you weren’t of a certain size, you weren’t shopping there. In the “normal” world, the size zeros and two intermingle with the size 14 and 16s. And you have everything in between.
I am a tailor’s daughter in case you didn’t know so from a young age I understood body measurements and the importance of knowing them and altering clothing to fit your type of body. So one thing I had going for me this whole time is my measurements were that of a models. No, no I never had a model’s body but my measurements were even, they fit. Now this new body isn’t even and doesn’t fit. So dresses are out and mix and match is in, which brings me to my latest shopping expedition. I go to the GAP in hopes of finding some clothes. Their jeans tend to fit me well. Now one little tidbit that I’ve found is that the outlet clothes in adults fit larger than at the actual store, where as the outlet kids stuff needs to be sized up.
Anyways, I’m at the actual store and find a pair of jeans I’m looking for in my size, super. Then I move to tops. I’m looking at a few different ones and you know when you can just tell some stuff is sized bigger? Well in this case I grab a medium, large and XL. Three different designs, three different sizes and all three fit. Now I assure you if you haven’t seen me I’m in no way shape or form a medium size. But thank you Gap for stroking my ego for a few minutes. But my point in bringing this up is we have a generation of girls growing up with visuals of models who are size 0, 2 and 4s and while progress is being made both on the runway and in mainstream media to show women of all sizes, this crap is playing with our minds. How is a girl not going to feel bad when she really is a medium but can also fit into an XL? Why can’t there be more consistent sizing? Why can’t your measurements reflect the same size regardless of the brand? How can the measurements of a typical size 8 be considered an XL by some manufacturers? Seriously clothing industry?! As a mom to a daughter, I know that these are issues that she will face in the coming years and something that we’ll have to navigate together.
What is your experience? Have you ever been able to wear multiple “sizes” in one store? Is my experience a one off or am I not alone?
