SATC (Shopping and the City)

OMG, shopping when you are a voluptuous chicky can really be veeeery confronting! Shopping in the CITY, when you are a voluptuous chicky is much, MUCH more confronting - and upsetting!

I went shopping with my gorgeous, fit, young, friend on the weekend (yes, she makes me sick  haha), looking for some outfits for her as she has lost so much weight she needed new clothes. She'd gone from a HUGE size 14 (rolling my eyes) to a size 8-10 depending on the shop (love you - you know who you are!).

So we headed into the city and went to all the funky, cool shops, bopping away to the music, laughing and chatting and buying RIDICULOUS amounts of clothing in each store. Man can we shop! Haha

We shopped for four and a half hours! Yes, that's right, four and a half!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

That translated as HELL for a bigger girl.

Firstly, all the cute clothes I lusted over would look crap on me. Secondly, many of the sales assistants ignored me or looked down their noses at me - not one of them actually asked me if I wanted assistance. In 4.5 hours of shopping. Seriously?! Thirdly, the clothes that I thought wouldn't look so bad, didn't have my size.  And fourthly, and most importantly, the clothes that had my size (or so I thought) didn't fit me. It's really upsetting pulling up a size 18 pair of pants and not being able to get them over your thighs.

Then there are all the mirrors.

OMG, to see my ass, my thighs and my double-chin from every angle almost brought me down. At one point I caught my profile and just stared at my chin. "Wow, I really look awful." I realised to myself.

It was very sobering.

So, what to do?? I'll tell you what to do - you say "Fuck it!".

It is what it is.

Getting down on yourself isn't going to help you - in fact, it's more likely to make you want to reach for that chocolate or a bag of chips. It might make you fall off that wagon and go hell for leather!

You accept it - "Yep, I'm overweight", you try to use factual words rather than abusive words ("I'm overweight", not "I'm fat"), you be nice to yourself - "Hey, I've lost 7 kilos, I'll get there", and you find the joy - "I'm having so much fun with my friend!"

I enjoyed picking out clothes for my friend and encouraging her to try different things, I was so happy for her in how great she looked and how good she felt being healthy. We had great chats and laughs, and i spent 4.5 hours of quality time with one of my best friends.

So did I have a terrible time? Nope. I had a few moments of getting upset, but I sucked it up and looked at the good stuff.

We all can do that - whether it is weight, health, relationships or circumstances. It's easy to go to that negative place and focus on all the bad stuff, but its way easier and doable if you see the good stuff. As cheesy as it was, that song was right-

 "Always look on the briiiiight siide of life...." 

See you in a few kilos...  xx