No it’s not a typo on my title, I didn’t mean to write 27 Dresses because this isn’t an outdated review of film about the girl who was always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
26 dresses refers to the number of dresses I tried on in the space of 60 minutes in search of a dress.
I used to love clothes shopping, I would go so far as to say it was a ‘hobby’ but since giving birth to my two gorgeous children I hate shopping. Earlier this year I followed the Jenny Craig diet and was very happy to have lost 1.5stone and I felt better than I had done in a long time. Unfortunately despite losing the weight I hadn’t considered that I wouldn’t be the same shape anymore. Gone is my flat, tight tummy and my pert peachy bottom. I now have wide hip bones and horrible knees (shhh I think I have always had them anyway!). I am quite tall at 5’8” so I think my size and weight can be deceiving to others. Up until now I have been very happy with my weight loss, but also up until now I haven’t really been clothes shopping. I have just gone back into my pre-pregnancy clothes from nearly 4 years ago.
My shape change has been quite well hidden in my Mummy ‘uniform’ of jeans, jumpers, leggings and long tops. But in the run up to Christmas I needed to find a dress for Hubby’s Christmas Party and I noticed just how different I am and I don’t like it much. Dresses which are drawn in around the waist make me look hideous, they totally emphasise my excess tummy. It’s funny how one dress can make you look like a supermodel and the next a heffalump, unfortunately on this occasion the supermodel dresses were all out of stock, only heffalumps needed to apply!
Trying on dress after dress and looking hideous in all but one of them was quite soul destroying. The one that did look nice was unfortunately a touch too tight and the last one in the shop so it was yet another unsuccessful trip. I have never been too bothered by size labels, I kind of go with the philosophy that providing it fits you can always just cut the size label out but after my diet I was hoping to fit back into size 12 so having to try on size 14 and size 16 in some of the more ‘high-fashion’ shops was quite depressing.
I know the answer lies in exercise now but with the winter well and truly settled in I don’t think it will be happening any time soon! I do dance along to all my Wii dancing games but I do that more for fun than exercise so I probably don’t put in maximum effort, perhaps my New Year’s resolution should be to ‘try harder’ . . .
{I did find a dress for the Christmas party but I didn’t have any photographs taken of me because I still didn’t feel confident enough}
How do you feel about your body since the birth of your children?
I found out i was pregnant with Melody the day after i picked up my size 8 wedding dress, so a month before i got married i bought a grecian style dress from Monsoon instead. I kept the original size 8 (my dream dress) saying it would be a diet incentive and one day i’d wear it for renewing vows. We had Melody then 14 months later had Flynn and he is now 1 and i am nowhere near getting into that dress! i don’t think i ever will. i’m not happy with my figure but i don’t hate it enough to do anything about it!
God I hate clothes shopping nowadays! Too much hassle, too hot, too distracted, too disappointing! And I too have hips now – I never did before I had children, it is shocking that a person’s bones can change permanently isn’t it? I think losing the weight you have is no small achievement so you should feel proud of yourself – I need to lose exactly that and have done for 3 years now 🙁 Oh yes, and being tall, people don’t see it on you, but you still know it is there!