Clothes. Again.

Here goes yet another 'unboxing' post about clothing. Clothes may seem a boring topic to some, while fashion is of high interest to others. What I have found since going from being a woman who wore the Fat Lady Uniform (largest sized jeans available and stretchy 2x tops in muted colors) to one who now finds herself in red, cold shoulder tops ('cold shoulder?' Clever marketers...) is that a world has opened up to me. A world of enjoying clothes rather than being embarrassed about my choices.

The topic has been mentioned here before and redundancy isn't my goal. But I'm flabbergasted - still - by the fact that something I approached with dread has been replaced with happy anticipation. I love getting these shipments from the service I use, Stitch Fix. There are others, I imagine, but Stitch Fix is the one I use. Boxes are delivered to me with contents unknown. One's profile can be set up so everything from scarves to shoes to dresses to jewelry and handbags can be chosen by the stylist. I opt for tops, slacks and light jackets with the occasional skirt or dress. I've adjusted my size requirement downwards several times and asked that styles become more daring, as I have become so.

The thing is, losing weight, becoming smaller doesn't always compute in our heads at the same rate as the physical changes. I've spoken with many people who have trouble recognizing that they no longer need size 3x clothing and should be choosing 18s from the rack. Or who are trepidatious about entering a store that sells 'normal' sized clothes. I wrote about my own experience with that before, recounting my momentary FGP ("Fat Girl Panic", a phrase taught me by my friend Cyndi) when a clerk tapped me on the shoulder in a nice store to point out I was in the wrong department. Spoiler Alert: It all ended nicely.

To this day, I still assume some of the pieces in my Stitch Fix deliveries will not fit. Yet they do. 

If you're struggling to get yourself out of the uniform you've worn for years, the one where you hope no one will notice you or one that goes well with the potted tree you're standing behind in case anyone pulls our a camera, try to take a bold step. It might be just buying something red or *gasp*  sleeveless. (I know, small steps). But do this: buy something smaller than fits. An aspirational pair of jeans or a blouse. Nothing crazy. Just a size smaller than works now. Hang it up where you can view it and know that if not this week, maybe next. Or next month. But one day that bit of cloth that intimidates now you will one day be an item you cart off to Goodwill because it's too large. 

That stuff happens. If it can to me, it can to you. 

Here are a couple of videos of my new clothes. I can't wait to see what I receive next!

Clothes are a big issue. After keto, clothes are still a big issue - only smaller! πŸ˜‰ For more information on the ketogenic diet, see below.

Clothes are more fun after having lost weight on the ketogenic diet. For more information on the ketogenic diet, see below.


Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. β€œDuh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to afflilate links, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through those links. Thanks!

 

Maybe It's Safe to Go Back Into a Retail Store Again

There are folks who so enjoy a bit of retail therapy. For whom going into and roaming the aisles of stores is relaxing, enjoyable, fulfilling. Then there are people like me for whom that experience is the opposite of all those things. I used to attribute it to simple sensory overload. Too many bright lights, sparkling displays and just-a-bit-too-helpful sales staff. Consequently, I've managed to make nearly all my purchases of everything from shoes to replacement bands for my Garmin 920 Sports Watch via online sites. And when I lost enough wait about 6 months in to following the ketogenic diet and truly needed to get new clothes to replace the then baggy, falling off ones I had been wearing for years, Stitch Fix was a godsend. They shipped a box of five items to my door. I've written about that previously and I continue with the service to this day.

But after a rare visit to a bricks and mortar store to look for a dress for an upcoming trip - I had an idea in my mind what I wanted and thought Soma might have it - my thoughts on my previous retail reticence has changed. Whilst flipping through a rack of long dresses (there's going to be a more formal evening on our trip and my current wardrobe, while vastly improved over most of what I've worn for 30 years, doesn't include a full length dress) a sales person came up to me and with a pretty serious look on her face advised, "You know you're looking in the wrong section. These will never fit you". 

My throat involuntarily clamped shut for a second. A flash back to shopping for clothes in my thirties and being told the same thing, a mortifying moment, frozen in my mind.

"These dresses will swallow you up. You're far too small. Let's look over here", she explained.

Wha? Me, too small for... anything? I had been too large for just about all things for decades. Too large for lawn furniture, too large for airline seats, crowded grocery store aisles, all the but largest sized jeans on the Costco tables. Too large to get on the teeter totter with my family when our children were young - and that means with the kids and my Lovely Mate on the other side. And certainly too large to be led to another section of a store altogether by a sales person. This was a very strange moment in time for me. But one I really, really liked.

I described what I had in mind and she went straight to a rack with lovely long, soft dresses. Flipping through them she pulled one out and said, "We don't have this in an extra small but let's see if the small will work." Ok, now I thought I was being punked. You think I should be in an extra small? And a boutique extra small, not a 'we've started adjusting the sizing in our store to accommodate the ever growing girth of the average American' extra small? 

She selected a couple of other items for me and off I went to the changing rooms. I slipped that size small beauty on and - God help me - it fit. And looked, if I may write so myself, fantastic. Too long, naturally, as I am of the runt variety of human. But a pair of 4" heel platform pumps should help with that.

And it's a small. A freaking size small! And I'm certain an extra small would have fit perfectly.  Keep in mind, when I started the ketogenic diet, I was wearing size 24W jeans - with Spandex in them. And I tortured every centimeter of those stretchy jeans to get across my ginormous arse and belly.

I won't lie. I got a bit high off that experience. I let the clerk take the dress to the counter and I proceeded to thumb through more racks of all sorts of clothes, looking for size small items, getting more and more exhilarated as I saw the cute clothes available. What a revelation. I then went to another store, on the hunt for a pashmina. Two retail experiences in a day? Me? Inconceivable!

It then occurred to me that perhaps it wasn't the bright lights, non-stop music, and reflective surfaces at every turn that caused me to not enjoy shopping. It was the dread of someone telling me I was in the wrong area of the store. Or the fact that segmented areas of stores exist: "plus sized" areas and then the rest of the store. Who needs that particular form of humiliation? 

All of this is by way of saying that it's never too late to be 'normal'. To not be the fat person walking into the wrong area of the store, foolishly thinking you belong. If I, Ms. 24W, can now buy an off the rack size small, anyone can. And I mean anyone

Never count yourself out.

Now, if you're one who is going to be a fashionista at whatever size and who rocks the styles with gusto and loves shopping, I applaud and envy you. I simply never was that person. My loss, for sure, and I'm not proud that I body shamed my own self. But I can't undo those years. I can only get the most out of the 50 or so I intend to have left.

And I expect to be sporting petite, extra small, kick-ass clothes.

Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. β€œDuh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!

 

 

 

Another New Low and More New Clothes

This is the second time that I've hit a new weight loss low and received a delivery from Stitch Fix on the same day. Maybe I should increase the frequency of my subscription! You can see my post about the first happy coincidence here.

First, apologies for the wretched sound situation on the video, if you decide to watch it. Equipment malfunctions! Second, some of the clothing pieces appear larger in the video than they do in real life. (The same can be said for me.) A couple of subscribers to my YouTube channel questioned the sizes. But it is an optical illusion. The clothes are pretty small. Amazingly small, considering where I started out. That, or I'm just not a good videographer and don't know how to stage things. 

Ignore the horrendous lighting and my puffy eyes. That's me with some 22W jeans, so smaller than those I wore when I started the ketogenic diet. The photo is from several months, and about 15 pounds ago.

Ignore the horrendous lighting and my puffy eyes. That's me with some 22W jeans, so smaller than those I wore when I started the ketogenic diet. The photo is from several months, and about 15 pounds ago.

My history with clothes was not so much of a love/hate relationship as a hate/detest relationship. I've never been one to feel bouyed by retail therapy. Just not my thing. And this goes for even grocery shopping. Don't love to go to stores. Pair that with being very heavy and the result was my clothes came from tables at Costco. I simply bought the largest jeans and cotton blouses available. See the before photo at the top of the sidebar of this site for an example. Those are 24Ws straining across my ample backside. The blouse? I believe it was a XXL. So, more than not want to shop in general, buying clothes in any manner was excruciating. The result? My uniform of giant jeans and $13 blouses was pretty much all I owned. Those and Dansko knockoffs because my very wide feet couldn't fit in the real things.

There are downstream impacts of hating the clothes you own and the body those clothes cover. Social invitations are declined. Going out with your Lovely Mate feels like being put on exhibit, a cautionary tale to anyone who fears they'll be next in the fatty parade. Formal occasions? Forget it. I didn't even buy decent clothes for my daughter's wedding. And seeing photos of myself from the happy day sent me in to a true emotional tailspin. One of the deepest and longest lasting bouts of depression I've ever had. And I felt I ruined the day. Of course, no one was paying attention to me, as is proper. But we all struggle to see things from anything other than our own perspective. And the view from mine was miserable.

But as I lost weight after starting the ketogenic diet, that began to change. I not only needed to get new clothes, the ones I had being simply too large, I wanted new clothes. Something about my self-image was transforming from self-loathing to self-love. Sound sappy but it's accurate.

A friend suggested I try the service of having clothes not only delivered to me (no retail stores! Huzzah!) but chosen for me as well. And so started the building of my wardrobe, one box at a time.

There's more to all this, but it will have to come another day. I'm preparing to meet a friend for cocktails at a nice bar, and I'll be wearing snazzy clothes and probably some sassy pumps. No more clunky shoes, dumpy shirts or humongous jeans for me. BTW, I continued to buy jeans from Costco as I lost weight, always the same brand and style, in progressively smaller sizes and each new purchase was a victory. The first one was when the size wasn't followed by a "W". The next when I fit into size 14s, that of the average US female. I don't buy them there anymore. They don't carry a size small enough, size 6 being the smallest. True story.

And, oh yeh, as of this morning I've 93.3 pounds. Maybe I WILL up my Stitch Fix shipment schedule!

Here's the unboxing.....

Another New Low & Stitch Fix Unboxing! For more information on the ketogenic diet and links to items mentioned in this video, see below.


Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. β€œDuh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all.  I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!