Does anybody read these?

Do these pants...

We all know there's no good way to answer the age-old question: "Do these pants make my ass look big?"

But sometimes the pants answer the question for you.

Recently I noticed that my black dress pants were a little snug. They still zipped up and didn't look horrible, but I wouldn't have made any sudden movements in them.

So, when I saw that Lane Bryant (where big girls shop!) had pants on sale, I picked up a new pair of black pants just one size higher.

Because surely if my pants were a little snug one size higher would fit.

Except they didn't. They wouldn't zip up. They wouldn't even lay-on-the-bed-with-a-clothes-hanger-in-the-zipper-to-pull-it-up zip. It was not happening.

At this point I have two options. I can go to Lane Bryant and trade them for the next size up (you know, two sizes bigger than what I normally wear). After all, they were a new style (read: I have no underwear that you will not see when I wear these pants). Or I could lose weight and wear my damn pants.

I chose the latter.

I have been eating things only rabbits should eat (and those little 100-calorie chocolate-covered pretzel packs). I have been going to the gym everyday and have even become a regular at something called "Water Wake-up with William." William is also known as Hot William Who Teaches Yoga. It's a good class except that it's at a time when I normally like to sleep.

I have lost six pounds so far. So, realistically, that is 6 percent of my goal. (Arggh.) I am trying to ignore the nay-sayers, although that's hard when people actually tell you they think 10 is a plus size (they don't have it where the big girls shop!) and that Kate Winslet (who might be a 10) is obese.

Wow, we have really allowed our brains to be screwed up with some misconceptions about body image, haven't we?

But, anyhow, I lost six pounds this week. Next week, I hope to get the pants on. Maybe in following weeks I will zip them up and even make sudden movements in them.

I guess at that point, I'll also have to look for new underwear.

posted by Laura at 12:55 PM