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Maintenance Mundanities

I'm in maintenance but still whittling down my body fat levels in order to achieve a reasonable body composition. I have very low muscle mass so, although I have a low scale weight and look slender, I have an unwelcome kinship with streaky bacon, except that the bacon has a more favourable fat:lean ratio. :oops:
4 replies Page 1 of 1

Dressing with indifference

by SSure on 21 Aug 2014, 16:34

It's sometimes a different path to our bodies and how they are but I look at the women of courage who participate in the Under the Red Dress project and I take a mental step back in amazement at their endurance and courage.

And I wonder how I allow myself to be so indifferent to clothing/appearance that I can't be bothered to dress in the best way to make a reassuring impact on others (I think well-turned out people give off an aura of competence and trustworthiness). I dress in indifference and that isn't helpful - it's about time that I changed my attitude and overcame my loathing of shopping/working out what I can wear. I have a spinal curvature that limits my clothing choices but that shouldn't make me quite as careless as I am about my appearance.

HW: 168lbs (2011) CW: 102lbs BMI: <19
Maintenance IF 4:3

Dexa scan reports that I have low skeletal muscle mass and I'm categorised as sarcopenic, despite my age and fitness activities: body composition changed from 42% body fat at 127lbs to 20% at 103lbs.


SINS - Simple Is the New Sustainable
4 Comments   Viewed 55703 times

Comments

RE: Dressing with indifference
21 Aug 2014, 17:17
Wow. I have never heard of that before. What an amazing group of very brave ladies. I'm interested in why you don't like clothes shopping. Is it because you don't like the experience of it, or have no interest in clothes?

You have done so well with your weight loss have you thought about getting an hour with a personal shopper? There are many available on the high street now (even M&S), and they see bodies in all shapes and sizes. Also as they don't know you, they are unlikely to judge http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... treet.html.

If I was there, I'd take you out with me. I LOVE helping people find something they would never dream of wearing and seeing the delight on their faces when they find something that transforms them. Stuff on hangers can be intimidating and you don't know until you try things.

Next time you go into a changing room take your usual stuff, but take an item with you you would never normally try (even if it is out of your price range), and start experimenting. Dresses are a good start!
Re: Dressing with indifference
21 Aug 2014, 19:29
Under the Red Dress is rather humbling.

The Personal Shopper is a very good idea, thank you.

I think that I like neither the experience nor do I have any expectation that clothes would look OK tho' I do enjoy people watching and admiring well put together people. (My mother was agoraphobic for much of my childhood so we didn't shop for clothes.)

Later on, when I had to shop for clothes, I could literally never find something that even approximately fit me as I always had to purchase whichever size would fit over my awkwardly-placed spinal curvature (which also ruled out fitted tops or obvious patterns). This would swim on my (then) tiny waist. I always needed to buy trousers/skirts that accommodated a hip imbalance (one leg is shorter after a fracture and it's affected the balance of my hips) - and likewise they would swim everywhere else.

I don't wear dresses because the spinal curvature means a lot of fiddling about with the hemline to make it look even (and the top part of the dress doesn't hang evenly anyway).

The spinal curvature isn't that obvious, it's just awkwardly placed to the point where most clothes have to be larger than necessary to fit over it and that has a knock-on effect. Likewise, I've never had the patience to work out which necklines would actually look OK on me tho' I should probably have learned by now that I can only go for self-colours and should avoid patterns.
Re: Dressing with indifference
26 Aug 2014, 08:02
My sister has scoliosis. It is very pronounced and so I know what you mean about hemlines. However it has not deterred her and to be honest other people don't really notice.
Re: Dressing with indifference
27 Aug 2014, 06:53
Ironically, because of where my scoliosis is, and it's not the sort with which people are familiar, I used to be continually told off (at school) for having an uneven hemline and I'd have to demonstrate that it wasn't the hemline, it was me. Likewise, people would reach out and try to straighten a fitted blouse/jumper over the neck/shoulder (of course, it couldn't be corrected). (Yes, this always felt impossibly rude of people even if they meant well.)

It looks more like a mannerism than a scoliosis but it really is awkwardly placed. I'm so fed up of explaining it to people that when I had my Dexa scan earlier this year, the technician was grumping that my head/neck wasn't straight on the scan bed. I was about to explain when I thought, "No, I won't. If she's any good at interpreting these things then she'll literally see why I lie like this in a minute". 2 minutes later she gasped and said, "No wonder you're head wasn't straight. Is that scoliosis congenital or was it also exacerbated by an injury" (correct on both counts).

I'm beginning to have more insight into why I loathe choosing clothes and shopping for them. :)
4 replies Page 1 of 1

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