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I have not been a size 10 for several years now …. and I probably never will be again … and the only time I ever was – it was right after I first arrived in Texas from Iowa (where I had been a size 10 for many years) and was not used to the climate (extreme heat & humidity) down here – I went down to Size 3 … yeppers … I looked like a skeleton for awhile which was not attractive and yes I felt ill a lot – it took me time to get used to the climate but once I did, I went back to a normal weight and size of size 10 where I remained for quite awhile.

Then a few years ago, I had my gall bladder removed and my weight started increasing … my body does not process fats the way it used to do before the surgery and it also changed my metabolism – slowed it way down to less than a snail-crawl … I’d never had a weight issue or slow metabolism in my life until after having gall bladder surgery. Now I’m at least a 16, sometimes an 18 or maybe a 1X for shirts depending on how it is cut, styled or cut. I’ve always been wide-shouldered for an average height woman so I always had to get a bigger shirt size for my shoulders than I would take anywhere else. And my arthritis in my knees keeps me from doing high impact exercise like areobics and even some machines … I cannot walk and walk outdoors like I could in Iowa .. the humidity down here does bad things to my blood pressure … I am going to look into some kind of elliptical treadmill another lady was telling me about – and no I am not a Mall Walker kind of person … and I have no idea when or how I could find time to go to one to walk anyway … I spend two to two and a half hours each day in Houston traffic 5 days a week with a puppy waiting for me to get home & let her out of her crate.

I’d never paid attention to the lack of style of so much of the plus size clothing available in so many stores until I started shopping in that dept. I’ve never been a fashion conscious person per se but I do my best to try to look professional at work except on Friday for jeans day and then I still do not want to look like I am wearing a bedsheet then either. I started looking for something beyond what looked like tent & awning shapeless bed sheets to me hanging on the racks that I needed and wanted for work or for comfort living in a very hot humid climate.

I love silk – it is my very favorite fabric in the entire world to wear any time any where for any occassion. I do not want to wear to work what I would wear to paint the living room but so much of what I’ve seen the last couple years is not particularly stylish. I’d never really paid much attention to what anyone wore unless they looked dirty or like they were in their jammies at work or the grocery store… without realizing it .. I had noticed that very few BBW women appeared to have any … style-fitting clothes … in similar styles to average women … since I am not into sewing or serious fashion watching … I did not realize I had noticed until I went looking for clothes for work in a bigger size and found that most of them made me look twice as big as I actually am because they were loose, baggy in all the wrong places and not comfy either.

My daughter went shopping with me at JC Penney and she has a really sharp wonderful sense of style and fashion and what looks good … I never have and never will … I am more concerned over comfort generally while being neat, presentable and clean … yet I do not want to feel like I am an eyesore either. When we go shopping, I know I will have to try on practically everything in the store to go home with 3 or 4 outfits I can wear to work … my grandson takes his portable video game and sits outside the dressing room while I try on the various things my daughter finds for me to try … eventually we end up with work clothes for me after 2-3 hours of looking & trying on … yet I have not found any dresses locally that I like the look of or that are comfy.

I found an online site that I am thinking I really need to order a dress from them … they have some really pretty dresses that look terrific on the models and they cater to BBW … the site says Size 12 + at the top and then at the bottom – and I quote here directly from their website: “Kiyonna is known for its stylish and contemporary line of plus size women’s clothing in sizes 0x-5x” … worst case scenario … I won’t like how it looks on me and I will have to send it back … BEST case scenario .. I will like it and keep it and wear it happily when I need something a little more dressy than slacks and blouses which are all I have that fits me.

And the even better news … I will not have to spend hours & hours in a store dressing room trying on things or trudging from one store to another for hours on end looking for something that I like the looks of while store clerks are busy trying to sell me stuff that would be better suited to someone 20 instead of 55 that is not in a big enough size anyway.

I’d never thought about doing any clothing shopping on the Internet until I was talking to a lady at work who is quite tall – she was telling me she cannot find anything hardly ever at local stores and she quit trying to find things locally once she found a store online that sold clothing that actually fits her specifically for tall women … she buys online and in the several years of her buying from them, she has only had to return 2 items she said. This lady ALWAYS looks gorgeous and well-dressed and well-fitted and very stylish. I know my daughter who is tiny has issues finding clothes to fit her … and I know I am tired of trudging around from store to store and from dressing room to dressing room … I could be home painting or blogging or spending time with the puppy … that sounds much more fun than trolling from one store to another and still ending up with nothing at the end of the day except sore feet and a sore back.

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