Nice little WOW moment

So even though I've lost over 300lbs, there are times when I see myself as I was before. I've been having those days pretty frequently and no matter what your friends or family say, sometimes it takes the words of a perfect stranger for it to hit home.

We went to some Italian festival thing in North Wildwood; me, the kids, my SIL and BIL. This place had these t-shirts (Phillies) and I'm looking at them. I'm looking at sizes and he says, "I have all different sizes, whatever you need.". I tell him I need a 2X. He says... "Oh you're not a 2X, an XL would plenty big on you.". I can't say for sure, but I'm certain I had quite a smile on my face.

I tried an XL, he said it looked fine, but you know me. Wasn't comfortable how it fit around my chest, so I got a 2X, but the fact that he without hesitation didn't think twice to say I needed an XL. Very, very cool.......

Hey Eric,
It's okay and you CAN believe the guy. He saw you as you are. You may be getting closer to seeing yourself as you really are BUT you're not quite there yet. You are gonna need to move forward and buy and wear clothes that fit. You are not a 2X anymore! I'd dare to say that you can try a L, just try it and see how it feels first, AND then look in the mirror. Congrats on the WOW!
All the best bud.
Take care,

Dennis

So....you just HAD to make sure you had more wow moments than me this week huh?!?!   HA HA!  I, for one, have been telling you that for weeks now about your clothes being too big! :)  And just like Dennis said - TRY the large just to see - and I am SURE the XL would have been plenty big.....ummmm.....have you LOOKED at your scale lately?!?!  Just saying!

Mazel Tov on the great wow!  Very proud of you!

And you should have a smile on your face.  I look at you through the same eyes as the guy in the store, I met "this Eric", not "that Eric" and "this Eric" is a large, or if cut small, an XL!  Wearing a size larger than you need is like wearing insulation and lets face it, it's just to hot out for insulation.  Be the size you are, not the size you were.

revel in the wow,

Maura

Dennis and Maura summed it up BEAUTIFULLY and I can't add anything else to it.  It's definately difficult to see ourselves as we are...and even MORE difficult to allow ourselves to be comfortable in clothes we generally aren't (ask my bedroom floor on Friday - as I threw outfit after outfit onto it because I "couldn't" wear it...) but we all work towards it

And yep - sometimes it DOES take the words of a perfect stranger to really hit home.

I can promise you, though, that people on THIS board, even though are friends...will tell you like it is.  There's no butterflies and glitter here, buddy.  Just the truth.  And the truth is....an XL DEFINATELY woulda fit you.

Congrats!

Pam

I for one completely understand.  However, you will look in the mirror one day and see that the clothing you "feel comfortable" in is extremely unflattering.  Take a walk on the wild side and see what you look like in the smaller sizes.  You will be amazed.

My most recent wow was buying 7 pair pants and the cashier putting them all into one little bag that was not stuffed or heavy.  That really made me grin.  Although it was tough to stay away from the big sized clothing racks in the store.  I still have image problems, the brain will eventually catch up to reality but there is no specific timeline.

Congrats Eric - that's a fantastic wow - one day your mind will catch up to your body and you'll be truly amazed at the transformation - I still tend to go toward the bigger sizes so I try to take a friend when shopping now, because they will say 'STEP AWAY FROM THE PLUS SIZES AND GO TO THE NORMAL SIZES NOW!!' - it's a great ego-booster!!

That's an awesome WOW, Eric!!!  I agree wtih everyone---you need to try on the smaller sizes now!!  Wear what actually fits and looks good!!!

I have a great friend that has gone shopping with me a few times and she REFUSES to let me even LOOK at anything with an X in the size. Once she saw my tag flipped out and told me that when I took that shirt off to throw it out. I didn't need anything Xlarge anymore. I can wear some mediums and sometimes larges. I have to stop myself from looking at the xlarge, but, I avoid the plus size like the plague. I never liked looking there and I don't miss it.

Now, even I have to look twice when sorting the kids clothes and mine. I have to see if they're mine or theirs. What a nice surprise to myself.

Eric, from me and my great friend...try the large! Avoid tags with numbers!

Ok, well there's an obvious answer for all of us.

We obviously ALL need to go shopping TOGETHER and pick out outfits and sizes for each other, because we are apparantly incapable of doing it consistently correct on our own, lol

I say this whole entire board meets up at, lets say, King of Prussia, and take the small sizes by storm!  Good gawd....could you imagine....