Need the non-single-digit-clothing-size folks to make themselves known

My knee and thigh are still a bit swollen from my knee replacement in March, and the incision is still tender when rubbed by fabric that is not soft like sweats or lightweight knit sport pants, so any pants that are at all snug are out of the question when I go back to work next week. That eliminates all of my normal size 10 pants because, even though they dont even touch my legs when I stand, they get a bit snug on the knee when I sit (and then rub when I move my knee to keep it from stiffening up).  Anyway, I have several pairs of size 12 pants that I can wear, but it is discouraging to have to pull those out.  I am already stressed about going back to work and it is making me cranky and blue by re-activating all the old, negative messages about not being "truly successful" after my RNY just because I don't wear single digit size clothes.

I lost 190 pounds (and am maintaining that loss!), have only 24% body fat (considered "optimum" for women 50 and over), and am a size that I feel pretty good at (with the exception of my long-standing hatred of my thighs (from Jr High School days), which still have some residual fat and now have lots of nasty, hanging excess skin). yet being here among all the skinny girls is really getting me down again.  (I thought I had been more successful at overcoming these messages...)

Anyway, it would help me a lot to hear from the others who are done losing and are NOT single digit sizes.  I need a reminder that not everyone has a single-digit size body (even with zero fat!), and that a size 2-4-6-8 is NOT the measure of "success".  

 

Lora

Lora,

I am a size 10 and also a body fat of 24%.  I am 46 years old and look good in clothes.  Funny I still think I have that heavy thighs that I always had.  I wear a size L in my shirt and while I have gotten into some med. I think that is because of the brand.  A size is not a measure nor is a number on a scale. 

I am ok with these numbers and so is my dr. and the rest of my family. 

Good luck going back to work and THANK YOU! for helping me along in my journey.

Sandra

 

Yeah, I still have occasional days when I would swear that my thighs are just as big as they ever were (even though I can easily fit BOTH legs in ONE leg of my old jeans, so clearly they NOT).  I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one!  It happens mostly when I look at them uncovered... the residual fat and all that excess skin is NOT any better looking than the thighs were at twice this size.

Lora

You however are great at at posting photo's as I still use my dog Bezoar as my profile pic.

Well I am at the beginning of my journey (5 days post op) but I am super impressed. You have lost a person and a half! I will be happy if all I ever get to is a 12. Of course I'll be happy with smaller too. But I haven't seen a 12 in 15 years or so! Hey it beats a 22 which is what I wore at my highest! I think you look great. A 12 is NOT big! Plus it's only temporary! Hugs!

While I'm not in a double digit, growing up my mother always wore a size 12 pants and 14 jacket in her suits. I always thought she had a perfect body. She, like you had boobs I wish I had now. Don't let the number define you, let your health define you. And going up a size to make your leg comfy is far different than going up because you added 30 pounds.

What is truly successful to you? write it down. Self reflect on your answer. I'm sure if you took a poll here most of us if not all of us would define you as truly successful.

First of all thanks for all of your input here. for me this would be a head game telling myself that I failed when in fact its not me its my knee that is causing for looser comfortable pants and its only a short while till the knee heals its only a short while its only a short while. My Mom she went back to dresses and skirts for awhile. Would wrapping something soft around your knee with your pants on would that help? Nothing else has change its just that you had knee surgery and are still in recovery.

5 years out and wear 12P pants (10 if elastic waist) and 12 skirts - sometimes a 14 in dresses because I have a 36G chest and full shoulders.  Have no idea my % body fat = have not had it checked or calculated.  I so wanted to get into tiny clothes but my 12s are so much better than the tight 22/24 before the surgery.  I never got to the 115 pounds/size 4-6 I dreamed of before surgery but I am happy and healthy and satisfied with my results.

I, too, have several dresses that are 14s because I still have a 36DDD chest.  I knew I was always going to have an enormous chest, though... so somehow justifying a double digit size because of big boobs (breast tissue, not fat) seems less "failure"-like than  never getting to pants below a size 10.  Silly, I know.  Stupid mind games.  Pfft.

Lora

hey after loosing 110 pounds im still sporting a 42DDD bra....down from a 46/48DDD they look like deflated beach balls...they headed south oh so many years ago...

i am still in a size 16/18 depends on the brand name of the clothes....i was in a 26/28 before surgery....i never intended to have this surgery to get down to a certain size..i just wanted to get the strain off my lower back due to a very large herniated disc         (L-5,S-1)area of the body...i wanted off all the medications i was taking for high blood pressure, diabetes...i had acid flux, and they fixed a hernia during surgery...so i have met all those goals just not down to a very small size, but i am more healthy now than i have been in years...i am way more active than i can ever beleive..i am going to massage thearpy school full time, i still have time for 2 line dance classes during the week, and i go out to out local moose every friday night to dance, then i work a dance once a month with more dancing...before surgery, i NEVER would have attempted any of this.....

thanks for all the help you offer on this board, clothes size and age are just numbers....but yes sometimes that internal voice can play havoc with our heads....that when you put on the music, CRANK it up so the neighbors can also hear it, and just dance yourself silly....shake what your momma gave you and prasie god that we got a little bit more to shake...and yea, some times it keeps shaking after we want it to stop..but oh well...thats life..

have a blessed day

debby