Rocking your Size

Let's be honest here.  How many of us are truly happy with our size in clothing? How many of us hold onto "skinny clothes" in hopes of wearing them again?  I know I am guilty of both.  We get so focused on what size we "were" or what we "hope to be again" that we completely neglect ourselves in our current size.  We need to start embracing our current size so we feel good enough to make ourselves better.  Hear me out.

One thing I learned a couple years ago and that I tell women all the time is to embrace your size RIGHT NOW!  My weight has been a roller coaster over the last 10 years as I had babies, lost weight, had another baby, lost weight again, got busier, gained weight again etc.  No matter my size, I have always (well not always, 20 something Rachel was an emotional mess over her weight) focused on finding good clothes in my real size and ignoring what that tag said.  The truth is and what I say ALL the time is that you are never going to be that weight again or feel as good about yourself again if you can not feel fabulous right NOW! If you cannot love yourself at any size, you will NEVER be good enough.

The key is to WEAR YOUR RIGHT SIZE!  You will look a million times better in the right size than a couple sizes too small.  Just because you can barely button that size 8, it does not mean it looks better than that 10 or 12.  In fact, you will look slimmer in the bigger size.  The main reason why is because you will look and feel more comfortable.  Think about how you feel when you are wearing a pair of jeans that you can barely button.  You are pulling around on your shirt, constantly pulling the jeans up and are probably even walking funny in hopes that button does not fly off and black someone's eye!  Now, think about how much better you would feel in a bigger size that contains the muffin top, your shirt lays flat on, and they stay put when you are sitting and walking.  You honestly look so much better because you move effortlessly and you are focused on everything but your crack showing.  A woman that can strut with ease in a 14 looks WAY better than a woman bent over pulling her too tight pants up in a 12. FACT.

This goes past jeans and pants though.  The main culprit is tops.  How many of y'all are more blessed in the chest region? I know y'all have heard me complain about my rather large girls and my issues with tops. Or how many of you are still fighting the extra skin and belly left over from those lovely little babies we just had to have? :) So we have all changed dramatically on top, but yet, we still think we can wear that medium we used to wear. Right?  I mean God forbid we mean get a Large or Lord help us an EXTRA LARGE!  Or let's just talk about the fact that the smalls that we see in stores now would fit my Claire!  DO NOT feel ashamed that you may have to size up in your top.  I swear you will look so much more polished and slimmer in a top that actually fits rather than one that rides up, is too tight or won't button.

Quit being so hard on yourself on what size you have to get!!  Cut that damn tag out if you have to!  I challenge you that next time you are shopping to try on a couple different sizes and take pictures of yourself in the dressing room mirror.  You will see that not only your body looks slimmer with the right size, but the look on your face will be different too.  I am not saying to start getting too big of sizes either (I have been guilty of that too!), just the right size.

Just because you have to go up a size should not keep you from looking good. Just because you had to go up a size should not keep you from buying something.  So often, I hear "well the medium did not fit, so I just left. There was no way I was buying a large". Puh-lease.  So you are just going to wear yoga pants and over-sized sweatshirts until you lose your weight?  You are going to only wear workout clothes until you get back to your long lost small?  Stop it! You can look just as fabulous (or maybe even more now because I know that when I was smaller, I did not have nearly as fab taste as I do now :)!) as you did then right now!

So now is when I will be really honest with you and put my money where my mouth is.  I don't have an easy time always finding the right size.  My girls are big, my arms are not as small as they used to be and my belly needs some work (as in work, I would love a good mommy makeover, but these little people that follow me around and call me mama are apparently more important than that right now :) ). I HATE TIGHT CLOTHING. I refuse to wear it.  The tightest I will get are a good pair of skinnies.  So I am really picky about what I will get from boutiques and I sometimes get pissed when I am shopping that I can't get most things to fit. Do I let that stop me from being in style or looking put together? Absolutely not!  I just have to be smarter on my shopping choices.

So, while in OKC for Claire's dance competition a couple weekends ago, we found the most gorgeous F21 I had ever seen. It was new and me and Mom were pumped. Ok let's be real for a second.  F21 is not exactly the best store to judge on sizes.  Their smalls are teeny tiny, mediums are like smalls and the larges are what I call normal.  I don't have a lot of luck with clothes there outside of their colored twill skinnies and cardigans. I will randomly find a dress every once in awhile. As I was walking around this store, I stumble upon this gorgeous, HUGE plus size section.  At first, I did not even want to go in it.  Then I got really pissed at myself.  How dare I do this to myself? Here I was being all judge-y, AT ME! I walked right in the section and I swear the angels began to sing. I found sheer button downs that actually buttoned over my chest, blazers that were not too tight on my broad shoulders, dresses that were fabulous and fit perfect.  I was shocked....and spent way too much money :). I bought mainly XL's but they had up to 3X.  I was so impressed.  Mom was so jelly of some of the stuff I bought. :)

Since I have been home and while in CA last week for work, I got so many compliments on my outfits and you know what? I even got asked if I had lost weight? Not even joking y'all!!!  I was shocked and I thanked the Lord for confirming that I should not be ashamed that I shopped in that section.  Sure I need to lose weight and I know that, but I am not going to let that keep me from feeling beautiful. I have even been telling people about it more than I thought I would.  Well good grief - I am even putting it out here :). Here are some of the cute things I bought and a few things I saw...

Do you need to change your attitude on your current size?  Are you too focused on what you want it to be or what it should be to embrace what you have right now?  Change it.  We all need to take better care of ourselves and Lord knows I need to lose weight too. BUT that should not stop us from rocking what we got and living each day as if it was our last....or at least as if we could run into that snotty girl from high school or an ex boyfriend :).

Strut it strutters!!!