Thursday, March 18, 2010

Coma Toads, 2XLT and some random for your gray matter.

So yesterday morning I ran out to do some errands before it was time to bring my daughter to school, or in other words get some bigger snacks because apparently my little princess was feeling like she was missing out by having a cereal bar and I made an impromptu stop at JC Penny to look for a shirt. I of course walk straight to the Big and Tall section and start looking around and I see a button up shirt that the price seems good to me at $24.99 and I asked the kid what color I should get and grabbed a 4xl off of the rack in her color choice, when I started asking a 4 year old for fashion advice I don't know. Now I grabbed the 4xl because any big guy knows that button up shirts fit differently than a tee shirt so a bigger size fits more comfortably usually and comes with the added benefit of being able to actually button the shirt AND sit down in it. Of course the 4xl fits and I can button it up so I am comfortable with the size BUT the neck is too big which is something else that I would think all big guys know so it looked awkward, lets try a 3xlt right? The 3xlt fit tighter than the 4xl and the neck looked better but honestly the shirt was still looser than it needed to be, especially because I am buying it to wear over a tee shirt and unbuttoned so something said "go out of this bigger is better comfort zone and try the 2xlt" and I did and low and behold it fit me. The 2xlt fit me length wise, it buttoned and as long as I don't sit down it looks good on me and I only know this because my daughter said "that one looks da best Dada its my favorite" I think that she was just tired of standing there while I tried on the same shirt over and over and had to try something BUT I'll tell ya she was right it did look the best from all of the shirts.

I went out of my comfort zone with this shirt because it actually fits me and is not loose and baggy like everything else that I buy and a 2xlt?? in a button up shirt?? Me?? woah like seriously it was like 7th grade the last time that happened. The other thing that I am going to have to start getting use to is the fact that there are actually stores that I can walk into and buy some clothing in without thumbing through a catalog and picking things from the very limited selection. I can walk into any store that sells jeans and buy myself jeans now a days as the last "new" pants that I bought were a 42 but since then I have poked 3 holes in my belt and the 42's slide off of my non ass without a tightly cinched belt so I don't know exactly what size jeans I am right now, but shirts have always been an issue. I own precisely ONE 2xlt tee shirt and now I own one 2xlt button up shirt and like I mentioned it was 8th grade or so the last time I was in this size but back then I was on my way up in sizes, this time around I am on my way down.

I have a specific memory from back then going "school shopping" with my mother and we were never well off so of course we are at K-mart and I was trying on xl shirts to no avail because they did not fit me. I have no idea what the section where they had the bigger clothes was called back then but I remember it being kind of a new thing to have stuff in bigger sizes but that could just have been a 7th graders view of it. Anyways, "look Tony these are 2xl try one on" said my mother, and it fit but the picture on the front of the tee shirt said "Coma Toads" and was a bunch of frogs laying on a couch like they were partying and were now comatose, I got the shirt. I didn't want the shirt, I didn't want any of the shirts that I got that day but it was all that would fit and I clearly remember it because it was the day that I went into "big clothes" and if I had know just how significant that shirt would be to me I may have tried to keep it. That day I was passing into a new size of shirt and it was a terrible thing that the size was 2xl and yesterday when I bought that 2xlt shirt and it fit me I am again passing into a new size of clothing but this time around 2xl is a welcomed thing.

I am not quite ready to say that I am a true 2xl size yet, I have 3xl shirts that fit me fine and are comfortable but these couple of 2xl things fit me too, just slightly snug for the moment. Maybe in a month or two I will HAVE to admit that I am this size because there will be no denying how the bigger stuff looks on me but I am still more comfortable in a looser fitting 3xl shirt than any 2xl that I own right now. The mental aftermath of losing the amount of weight that I have is interesting indeed and not something that I thought would be here at all, changing the way that I think I have covered, changing the way that my eyes see things is going to have to happen naturally because I honestly can still see the way bigger me a lot of times still, Not that I am small...yet...but still you get my point.

Tomorrow is a weigh in day for the blog so make sure to tune back in to see the stunning results of the week on the next episode of as the fat guy turns.

As Ever
Me

5 comments:

  1. Dangit man, I am a grown big man and some of your posts get me almost to tears. I so remember those shopping trips with mom, finally moving over into the husky section, not having to hem everything at the bottom. I got down to wearing 2xl's in college (like 10 years ago) and could go in gap, old navy etc... and buy a shirt (but not a button down). It would be snug, but dangit I was wearing a 2xl.

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  2. I can so relate to this wonderful post. It is tempting to buy the bigger sizes---it's all we've ever known. But we don't have to do that anymore. Never again will casual male rip me off! Yeah casual male xl, I said it! You're ripping big guys off!!!

    Anyway---sorry about that.
    It feels so good to wear a normal sized shirt. Normal, strange to be considered normal...shopping in normal stores. It's good.

    Oh the "husky" term...I always hated that one.

    Thank you for your words and story...We've been there man--
    separate, but together.

    My best always,
    Sean

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  3. Can I just say how much I think you rock? I've never met you in real life, but you just put your whole self out here and it's absolutely AWE INSPIRING to read along on your journey. I totally think that when you get to 275 you owe yourself one really cool shopping spree where you buy one super rocking outfit and you walk around like you're all that AND a bag of chips! You are awesome dude!!

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  4. Thanks for the support guys, one of these days I won't need the big mans section any more ;) and I know that you guys will be there!

    oh and Sean, I totally agree with the ripping big guys off thing! cheap sub par clothing sold at a premium because they are the only game in town? just ain't right man but what choice did we have? sheets perhaps?

    As Ever
    Me

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  5. Yeah, definitely...the section was called "Husky", right there in JC Penney's. That's where my mom had to take me.

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