Size Matters...Or Does It?

Why the label inside a pair of pants can be misleading


After last weekend and the disappearance of The Hundredth Pound, I decided it was time to do a little shopping.  As I mentioned before, The Hubs had given me gift cards for Christmas and, while they weren't burning a hole in my pocket, I was curious to see what I could find in the retail world, especially clothing-wise.  I had some free time between hospice and chorus practice, so I hit the mall.  I don't know if I wasn't in  the right mood for shopping, or I wasn't looking in the right stores, or the prices were upsetting me (well, the prices definitely weren't making me happy).

Trying things on in a fitting room, I was able to see my body in a full-length mirror, something I don't have at home.  I found some jeans that fit, in 2 or 3 different sizes, but they didn't fit the way I wanted them to, and for what they cost I wasn't going to settle for something that fit but didn't flatter.  I have always been really short-waisted.  The good thing about a short waist is that it makes my legs seem longer, which is cool.  Unfortunately, the lower-rise jeans that seem so popular now just don't look or feel like I want them to.

Another thing about the full-length mirror is that I was able to see all the scars on my abdomen from not only my weight loss surgery but also my gallbladder removal and my appendix/ruptured ovarian cyst surgery.  My middle looks like a battle zone!  Combined with the loose skin hanging there now from the weight I have lost, it is a pitiful-looking belly indeed.  It's part of the process for a lot of weight loss patients because of the amounts of weight we are losing.  And it's OK.  It's not like I was ever hoping to wear a bikini anyway.

After leaving the mall empty-handed, I grabbed a quick bite of chili and went to chorus practice.  Seeing everyone after having a few weeks off was great, and it felt good to blow some of the rust out of my voice.  I told one of my music fraternity students I sounded "craptacular".  The spring concert season promises to be challenging musically, and I hope to continue to rehab my voice as we rehearse.

After chorus practice was over, I decided I would try shopping again, this time at the Walmart near my house.  I will confess that I am not a label or brand snob, and if I can find something to wear that I like, I don't care where it comes from, or how much or little it costs.  And at Walmart, I hit paydirt!  I found jeans, with pockets (we all know by now how important pockets are to me!) that have a rise high enough to sit at my waist comfortably and don't give me "muffin top".  I purchased a few other little items as well but the jeans were definitely the big score of the night.  And the best part is that they are a size L/12-14, according to the label.  I should save the size tag and make a scrapbook page around it because those are numbers my body has not seen in decades!

I realize, of course, that the labels in clothes are misleading at best, because every manufacturer/designer has a different set of criteria by which they set their garment sizes.  A size 14 in one clothing line might be a size 18 in another, and jeans, dress slacks and dresses are all sized differently as well.  So I know I can't get too hung-up (or cocky) about the size label on my latest jeans.  The only true gauges are the scale and the tape measure.