I was that girl. I can distinctly remember in a high school skit someone spoofing me in jeans, a sweatshirt and Tevas. It looked awful on her, I’m sure it looked even more awful on me 100 pounds heavier… I clung to that uniform though.

This post makes me sad. Jeans and a tee shirt is not a style, it’s lazy. It may be comfortable and you may feel comfortable in it but to many of us it says, look at me, I don’t care about myself. Which we all know isn’t true having read your blog. Getting “dressed up” can also be comfortable and requires no more thought that putting on jeans and tee shirt. A dress can be instantly an outfit! It does require time, shopping and effort to get to that point though. You wouldn’t be struggling to find clothes for an event if you didn’t live your whole life in jeans and sneakers. That panic of omg I need to go and buy a dress for fill in the blank disappears if you have more than one uniform of clothes you can turn too.

I think when we lose massive amounts of weight the brain has a hard time. 1. With catching up to what we actually look like and 2. With not being pissed off that now people are showing us attention. We are the same people on the inside, but having been ignored or snickered at or whatever when we were heavy…. it’s sticks with us. Maybe this is why you are still sporting the jeans and tee shirts, you still wish to be ignored? You say you gave some new clothes a chance… but I’m going to have to say I doubt that, based on the miniskirt comment. Sorry but they don’t belong on on women our age. You have spent time finding out what looks good on you not just choosing what covers you.

At 345 I wore what “fit” but as my weight dropped and I could start shopping I was overwhelmed by the choice of clothes. I was different sizes for two years worth of seasons; shopping for clothes became something I did often and learned to enjoy. It took time and self reflection to discover what looked good on me, and to a large extent what camouflaged what was left over by my weight loss. This was the hardest part of learning how to dress my new body. My waist is tiny at 155 pounds but my “hips” were not. Dresses and skirts became my norm to cover what I couldn’t stuff into pants. It took forever, well years, to learn and involved lots and lots of tears. But the end result is that I feel way more confident and feel like I am putting my best foot forward. I wish I could say to the world hey I lost 185 pounds and that should be enough, but it’s not.

A sense of style goes along way.

The sad fact for me is, I’m not blessed with a particularly attractive figure — even when I’m slim and super fit! I have a barrel chest, broad shoulders, a thick waist, a short neck, and a flat ass.

But clothing can magically transform what I’ve got and make it really work. I’m fascinated by the way I can make my body look much better than it is. I can show off my pretty knees and ankles with short skirts with great strappy heels.

Other times, I’ll be convinced that my slim hips are the best part of my body, and I’ll be obsessed with wearing the right, well0fitted pants.

Other times, I’ll be taken with the notion that my broad shoulders cand make my (naturally thick) waist look small if I wear contrasting colors, and a belt, in just the right proportions, with either a wrap construction to the top or some well-placed diagonal seams.

Other times, I’ll be fascinated by the way a well-made wrap dress with contrasting piping can give me an hourglass silhouette when nature didn’t.

I’m always looking for the right neckline for my short neck, and honestly, when I find the right, deep wide V neckline, my neck looks long and my shoulders lose their bulk.

I’ve also discovered that wearing a short-sleeved cardigan, a size too small, buttoned just once right under my bosom, over a tight camisole in the same dark color as a pencil skirt, gives me a va-va-va-voom, ultra-feminine figure — this is a miracle, believe me, since I really do NOT have a vavavavoom figure. (It’s something about the visual effect of the diagonal of the cardigan’s gaping open above and below the button that tricks the eye into thinking I’m narrow and broad in the right places.)

I like looking at my silhouette as a work in progress. I’m fascinated by the challenge of finding ways to work with what I’ve got.

I am sitting here reading in running shoes, jeans and a t-shirt.

When I was bigger, my uniform was baggy T-shirt & jeans, now I am in slightly more fitted Ts but still a t-shirt! If I wear a more unusual top, I usually can’t wear my sports bra (which is an essential) and it’s just too much hassle!

and if life demands two? you will see me in the SAME OUTFIT in a different color.

please to see BLOGHER EVENTS and crossreference under SERIOUSLY? WE ARE SUPPOSED TO WORRY ABOUT WHAT WE WEAR?!