Over the past 9 years my weight has fluctuated between  110 to over 120 and then this past January I hit 135.

These weight fluctuations  have made shopping for clothes quite difficult. Yet for some odd, aka stupid reason, I have kept trying to fit into the same ol’ clothing size that I’m so used to wearing. I’m almost thirty guys, why am I still trying to wear a size from when I was a teenager?! In between that time I’ve competed in races, competitions, worked out tons. Surely I can’t be the same clothes size? Jeez, I’m a trainer I should know better!

 

Partially I think this has to do with habit. Normally, I would walk into a store,  grab a small or size 1/2 and call it a day. I hated having to wait in line for a dressing room and physically try on clothes. I also didn’t feel the need to try it on because that had “always been my size” and that’s what I “should” fit into.

I have finally accepted that I’m growing up and it’s time to move on. Instead of trying desperately to fit into my small clothes I have decided to accept my new “heavier” body, complete with more muscle mass and focus on buying bigger, better fitting clothing. I have  purged  my closets and drawers of clothing that I need to stop trying to fit into. RIP to my 18 year old body. 

 

Let’s talk about the HUGE problem with the sizing of women’s clothing. Women’s clothing  manufactures a  size small,  for a teenager or really tiny woman a la michelle dockery. Most people do not have that frame.

 

I am small. I stand at five feet, but my build is athletic, so I don’t fall into the traditional  “skinny” group.  If I tried to be a cover model, they would probably tell me I need to lose 15-20 lbs.  I often  do get called skinny but  “Skinny girls” don’t wear Large or size 8 bikini bottoms, they wear the crap I’ve been trying to fit into 🙄 Which means: 

 

We live in a society, that  if you wear a size medium or large you are considered “fat”, and as someone who is adjusting their wardrobe for their “grown girl bod”, that is further from the truth. The sizes for women’s clothing are disproportionate and inaccurate.  It’s effed up. Women that I see as having  normal bodies wear clothes from the  plus size section  😑 really?! 🤔

 

I’m small and I have to wear large bottoms, an 8 in certain brands, a D bra, a 6 in Lululemon because their size 2 is for a preteen. I’m not even a big girl. So where does that put the bigger girls at!? You can’t even wear Lululemon if you’re overweight. They’ve run out of sizes.

[bctt tweet=”The sizes for women’s clothing are disproportionate and inaccurate. It’s effed up. ” username=”@flourish_ious”]

 

Many women and even men (more here) are finding issue with the sizing of women’s clothing.I recently came upon this article on Buzzfeed, about  a woman, who  has also come to accept her body, and has gave up trying to fit into clothes that do not fit her. Look at her body.  She looks normal to me! But by “standards” she’s considered “fat”. So unfair. She’s healthy, happy (after previously struggling with eating disorders and  exercises regularly).

 

And so I will share with you what I wish someone had shared with me: If you open your closet and realize things are no longer fitting you, you don’t
have to assign it any emotional significance. You haven’t failed. You can just buy some new clothes, or tailor the ones you have. I promise that it’s not a big deal, and that you’ll wish you’d done it a whole lot sooner.

Hit up the comments with how you feel about women’s clothing sizes and how they have impacted your clothing choices. Subscribe here to get more honesty delivered to your inbox.

This blog post is featured on Modern Brown Girl