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Goodbye, plus sizes; hello, shopping

BY KATHY MANWEILER

Originally published July 25, 2006

For years my closet resembled a rack at a clothing store. Thanks to my countless rounds of yo-yo dieting, it was crammed with clothes in every size from 10 to 24.

Through all the times I gained weight, I still kept the size 10s hoping they would fit me again someday. One hanger even held a pair of my skinny jeans from college.

When I was wearing plus sizes, fitting back into those jeans seemed like an impossible dream -- and a style nightmare. (They're acid-washed, with tapered legs and holes in the knees. Back then, some of us actually thought that was a cute look. Please don't call the fashion police on me.)

As I committed to healthy habits several years ago, I steadily lost weight, and I was keeping it off this time. My plus-size clothes were gathering dust, but I held on to them because I was afraid that those extra pounds might come back to haunt me.

Then one day it dawned on me that I had been consistently exercising and eating right for more than two years. Now I miss the gym if I take more than a day off, and most of the time my taste buds are happy with healthy foods.

I realized that my lifestyle changes were here to stay. And my plus-size clothes had to go.

Last fall, I donated them all to charity. I gained a new sense of confiden ce and pressed on toward my ultimate goal of wearing single-digit sizes.

And every few weeks, I tried on my old skinny jeans to gauge my progress. When they almost fit in February, I knew I was inching closer to my goal. When they were getting too big for me in April, I figured that it was time to go shopping again.

I thought I'd still need some size 10s, but I also took some 8s into the dressing room out of curiosity.

I tried on a size 8 first -- and it fit. "Don't get too excited," I thought to myself. "This must be a fluke. Maybe the tag is wrong."

But then I tried on a few more 8s and they fit, too. I gave all the 10s back to the saleswoman and found smaller options. All the 8s worked for me.

At that point, I wanted to take a victory lap around the mall and buy every size 8 in sight. But I'm glad I didn't because I've made even more progress since then.

After battling my weight for years, it blows my mind to wear clothes with tags labeled "small." When I started this journey, I wasn't sure I could reach this goal, but it feels even better than I thought it would.

I used to hate shopping, but now I'm making up for lost time.

So if there's a shortage of size 6s in the stores right now, blame me, because a bunch of them are finding a very happy home in my closet.

Alive & Well Editor Kathy Manweiler has a new pair of skinny jeans. Reach her at 316-268-6266 or kmanweiler@wichitaeagle.com.