Nothing in My Closet Fits Anymore

So since I started losing weight, I’ve noticed that my clothes are fitting differently.

In a phrase: they don’t.

Like most of my clothes don’t fit at all anymore.

Now I know that some of you may have rolled your eyes and thought “oh boo hoo to you. You’re skinnier now so your clothes don’t fit. Poor you.”

While point taken, it’s really freaking annoying to not be able to really wear anything you own and then to not really understand how to dress your new body. Or buy clothes that fit your new body.

So...to illustrate my point, it’s storytime.

A few weekends ago Nate agreed to go shopping with me for some new sundresses. I needed something for easter, my cousin’s bridal shower, and my little sister’s graduation from Ohio University (that’s this weekend btw. So proud of her!).

I wandered into Marshalls not really knowing what to expect.

Before I lost weight I started to develop a pretty lackadaisical relationship with clothes. Like, I went in kind of expecting not to find anything I liked and as a result, was usually not disappointed or was pleasantly surprised when I did find something.

As I walked to the racks I realized that I didn’t even know what size to grab anymore. Like...I had no idea. I knew that I dropped two jean sizes, but I didn’t know what that meant for dresses.

Long story short, I found a dress that I would have never in my life been comfortable wearing before. It has no back and cutouts by my stomach. That would have made it absolutely a no-go.

And the size that fit me was a MEDIUM! And like...there is room that I can already feel around the waist and hips. What is going on?!

After buying that dress and then two more medium dresses at Old Navy I thought that maybe the clothes surprises were over.

Nope.

If you aren’t living in Cleveland, it finally reached summer weather temperatures here. Ergo, shorts and skirt weather.

So I pulled out my shorts and put them on. They are huge. And when I say huge, I mean, like...they are maybe two sizes too big. Like basically unwearable. I was shocked.

Then today. Today was the biggest shock.

I knew I wanted to wear one of my favorite skirts with my new Cleveland Strong GVArtwork shirt (a small...a small shirt. I’ve never in my life worn a small shirt). So I put on the shirt and go to put on the skirt, it hangs off me now.

Like...look at this...it’s insane.

I can make it mostly wearable thanks to a skinny belt, but I would like if the belt had one more notch so I could cinch it a little more.

(plz ignore my weird little T-Rex hand)

Anyway.

I know it may seem silly to complain about my clothes not fitting and let me be clear, I’m not complaining. I’m merely expressing my struggles to dress this new body that I don’t know what to do with.

I guess what I am trying to get across here is that I never thought that I would ever have to change how I dress. Like...I had a style. I was able to dress my body well. Now...not so much. It’s a new learning curve and a kind of totally unexpected one.

Keto was a learning curve. Lifting was a learning curve. Learning new things about my body and how it looks and reacts to things was a learning curve. I guess dressing myself and rediscovering my style is another.

I honestly have to say, I’m both terrified and kind of excited. I’ve had the same style since freshmen year of college. But I’ve changed a lot since freshmen year of college. This is another part of the journey and I’m really excited for the chance to play with clothes again.

Little 6 year old Abby is spinning around in her princess dress-up costumes again with excitement. I wonder if we still have my favorite?

(188 today. Stupid shark week bloating. But hey, this skirt thing was a confidence boost. Take that shark week. You have no power here.)