This morning, I ordered new bathing suits in a size smaller than the ones I’m wearing.  These are bathing suits I wear for pool workouts, and the chlorine destroys them pretty quickly.  There’s a little wear left in the ones I have, so even if the new ones don’t fit immediately, I can get by until they do.

I’m wearing size 24 in a lot of things, now; my starting size was 26.  I’ve gone from 3X to 2X in tops.  I’ve been thinking forward; while I am a slow loser, I don’t think it would be totally out of the question to be a size 18 or 20 by this time next year.

While I believe clothing size is just a number, there’s also a big mental aspect to making that Plus Size jump.  Several years ago, before I first did Atkins, I wore size 32 jeans that I had to get at Catherine’s, and at the time, I think it was either the biggest jean size on the rack, or close to it.  It may only have been that was close to the top size for zip-up jeans; I refuse to wear jeans that don’t have a zipper, and some women’s jeans are just pull-ons.

It was a hayooooooge deal to me when I lost enough weight to be able to shop at Walmart for my clothes.  The top Plus size generally available at Walmart is/was 26.  When I could fit in size 26 jeans, I was thrilled to death.  I could buy jeans for $20 instead of $50.  Not to mention, most of the clothes in extreme plus sizes are ugly beyond measure.

When I worked my way through the plus sizes and landed at the top of regular sizes, I was in absolute disbelief.  This meant I could go into just about any store and find clothes that would fit me.  I could wear cute clothes.  Sure, I still had a lot of weight to lose, but being out of plus sizes was a goal I thought I’d never achieve.

So, having slid back into plus sizes, and worse, topping out the plus sizes at places like Walmart, was quite the wake-up call; especially when my size 26 jeans got tight.  Tight enough that I shouldn’t have been wearing them, but I absolutely refused to go back to places like Catherine’s for jeans.

Managing to get below the top plus sizes is encouraging to me.  While I am a slow loser, I think that being in a size 18 or 20 by this time next year is totally reasonable.  Regardless of what the scale says — and mind you, I don’t really know what it says right now, anyway — I’m delighted to be working my way back down through the numbers.

A final note: if you happen to be a plus-size clothing designer and you’re reading this, or even better, a buyer for a major department store, please see to it that cap sleeves on plus-size tops die.  Thanks.