Re: motd Monday Feb 6, 2012

[Guest guest]

On 2/6/2012 4:40 AM, Sue in NJ wrote:

Oh, it's awards show season.

Ugh. I saw the list of nominees for best movie and realized I hadn't

seen one of them. For all the major categories, the same thing. I

did see some of the minor awards, like best animated, and lighting

and such.

But you figure, because you're overweight,

there's no way you can ever look so good in the

clothes you wear. Right? Wrong!

The hardest thing is to FIND clothes in the right size. Every

company has a different size chart, even between various items. We

finally got a Walmart in our city and Saturday hubby needed new

slacks for work so we stopped in. Most of the plus-sized stuff was

the Just My Size brand, and I had such bad luck with that brand in

the past with shrinkage. I even had one shirt that I hand-washed in

cold water and laid flat to dry and it shrunk about 6 inches in

length and expanded an inch or so in width. I wear it around the

house when doing exercise or cleaning, because it's not decent

enough to wear outdoors any more. I had vowed never again to buy

their products, but couldn't resist this gorgeous t-shirt with

dragonflies in metallic paint, and it was labeled as JMS's new

longer length style. (mine is in teal, not pink) It was the only one in

that longer style (I like my shirts to cover the gut, not let it all

hang out) and when I looked at the size it read 5x. What? I compared

it shoulder to shoulder with a few other shirts and in some styles

it was smaller than even a 2x. I bought it anyway, and when I got it

home it fit just fine. If I got anything in a smaller size it would

be too small. I looked at a few other shirts in the plus department

and my usual size, 3x, which used to be 26/28, was now anywhere from

14/16 to 22/24, and the 26/28 was now 4x or 5x, depending on the

brand. No wonder we plus-sized gals can't consistently find clothes

that fit us and look good! At the same time I grabbed a few men's

size t-shirts for 4 bucks each in size 3x. Those were better fitting

than the JMS 5x and a better quality fabric, too. (sigh)

Favor clothes with horizontal stripes.

Contrary to popular belief, studies done by a

professor at the University of New York found that vertical

stripes actually

make a person appear larger. He noted that

horizontal stripes make the

person wearing them look taller and thinner. (Who

knew?)

I did. 2 of my favorite t-shirts have horizontal stripes and people

always tell me how good I look in them. I *had* a similar shirt in

vertical stripes that I looked horrible in and rarely wore for

anything but housework and was so glad when I got paint all over it

and had to toss it.

Choose dark colored clothes, especially black.

Darker colors have a slimming affect on the body.

I hate black and look horrible in it. Dark red, green and blues,

even purple, on the other hand, look great on me. Bright but dark

colors.

Avoid wearing lots of white as white will

make your body look wider.

Back in the early 1970's and into the 1980's, when I worked as a

nurse, we *had* to wear white - clothes, socks/stockings, shoes.

Those of us who were fat looked like fluffy white clouds going about

our work. I was so happy when hospitals finally started letting us

wear scrubs and other colors of uniforms.

Choose fabrics that are comfortable

and stretchy, such as cotton.

I live in knits. I do have a few pairs of pants that aren't knits,

like me jeans, but much prefer my knits.

Shiny

fabrics tend to show off curves and make them stand

out more.

I'm sorry, , but I like my shiny stuff. I would never wear a

whole outfit of shiny, but like the t-shirt I just wore, I like

shiny decorative elements in the designs. I have 3 Disney t's (that

also came from Walmart and also shrunk in length, not width) that I

wear all the time that glimmer and glow when the light hits them

right. Darn, they're not on the web site. I bought them a few years

ago so what did I expect. Anyway, shiny things make me happy, and

when I'm happy I look better. So there! LOL

Opaque colors, which are usually flatter

but can still be flatter-ing, tend to make

your body look tighter.

Nah, give me flowers, and abstracts, and cartoon characters. Plain

solid colors are boring.

Next time you need to go shopping for new duds, plan

to bring along a friend you trust, who'll be honest

about how you look in the clothes you try on. She

can help you choose outfits and colors that best

compliment your body's features and that look good

on you!

Back when my best friend lived a few blocks away from me instead of

the 350 miles that she does now, we never went clothes shopping

together. She was an 85 pound anorexic who fit into sizes smaller

than her pre-teen daughters, and me, anywhere from 250 to 300 pounds

in a super-sized plus size. We could never shop in the same stores.

>Hey, you may still be working hard to

lose weight and that's a good thing. But meanwhile, it doesn't

mean you can't look as good as those little Hollywood starlets

parading down the red carpet.

Which is why I always buy clothes

that fit and NEVER buy a smaller size and hope I fit into it in

the future.

Sue in NJ

who, at the moment, is wearing knit elastic waist pants and a

give-away t-shirt with a blimp on it hubby got at work a few years

ago. Later today these knit pants will be replaced with a black

pair and the t-shirt replaced with a Weird NJ one