If you have been following me, you know that I have lost over seventy pounds with Dr. Jack, partnertohealth.com. I also lost all my Hashimoto symptoms! But, I gained a whole bunch of new problems, too. Trust me, they are awesome problems! Silly, funny problems, but they are definitely problems.
For example? Nothing fits right anymore…. Seventy pounds is great, but it is not where I need to be and no way am I stopping here. The problem is that the clothes I wore seventy pounds ago don’t fit anymore. I don’t have a lot of extra money to spend on new clothes all the time. I get a pair of pants and they fit great, for about two months, and then they don’t! I don’t want to buy new pants every two months.
So I got…. CREATIVE!!!! Well, at least I thought it was creative. I got a lot of hand me up pants from my daughter who lost some weight. I wore them for awhile but then they got really loose. And when they didn’t fit anymore, I figured out that since I sew, I would just take them in the back. Two inches this month, in a few weeks another couple of inches. It was going great, until one day my daughter was over helping me sort through some clothes and I bent over.
“Mom?? What the heck is going on with your pants?”
“What do you mean?”
“Those pants didn’t look like that when I gave them to you.”
“No, they were too big! So, I fixed them so I could still wear them! Wasn’t that a great idea?”
“Mom! There is only one pocket in the back.”
Well, it turns out that I pulled them in so much that I now have unipocket in the back. It kind of looks like the two pockets meet in the middle. I thought she would die laughing. “Look! I don’t want to buy new pants every couple of weeks.” She was horrified that I go in public like that, but I told her my shirts cover up my backside so who sees it?
“You mean you wear those? Like outside? Where people see you?”
A few weeks later she came over and said, “Oh my gosh, you are still wearing those pants??” I told her, “Don’t worry, I fixed them!!! She asked how and I showed her that I took in the sides, too. “Mom! So, now you have unipocket and itty bitty side pockets?? THOSE have to go in the trash. Can you let them back out and give them to goodwill? We are going pants shopping. You can’t wear those anymore.”
I rolled my eyes at her, and then she tried to get Dr. Jack on her side. I raised smart kids. She knew I might not listen to her, but I would listen to Dr. Jack. He told me that new clothes are not a bad thing. And they aren’t. But I don’t want to spend a lot right now because I will be changing sizes again. So, I scored on some pants from Walmart that were marked down to $8.00 a pair. For that price, I am not feeling badly about wearing them a few months, (I am still going to unipocket them when they get too big, don’t tell her.)
I tried buying from thrift stores and things like that but I don’t seem to find much. Nothing fits quite right. One size is too small and the other too big. I go occasionally to all the different thrift stores searching, but I can never find anything. I look around but I also realize I have thrown out clothes that look less worn, thinking no one would want them. So now, I make a point of giving more because some of my worst stuff looks better than what is there.
A lot of times, I samurai my shirts, too, until she says something. We work in the same building and sometimes when I come in, she will just look and say as sweetly as possible, “Mom, this is the last day you can wear that. Seriously, the last day.” I don’t show her my evening job shirts because she wouldn’t like the technique I used on those where I stitched it hem to underarm and sliced off the extra fabric. I sealed the edge and we are good to go. After all, we wear vests, who sees that?
Today, she stopped by and I put on a few tops to try. Half of them weren’t even over my head before she said, “No, too big.” “No, it’s not you.” “No, didn’t you have that seventy pounds ago? That doesn’t look good on you at all.” I do sincerely appreciate her honesty and he attempt to keep me looking better even during these transition times.
I was lucky enough to score on some clothes from my cousin, and a jacket from a friend, and of course every time my daughter cleans her closet, I get some great pieces. I am trying to stay as minimalist as possible during these transition months. Yesterday, I had a pretty pink checked top on from my daughter.
“That looks good on you, but it’s a bit big. About a month, Mom, okay? No more okay? No sewing machine, okay Mom??” Ummmm….. sure….. okay……..
Ha ha…… What do we do without honest daughters who keep us looking good?