It's A Double XL Miracle

Just a quick posting today. I had one of those moments during my weight loss journey that I had to celebrate. As I work my way towards a healthier and longer life by dropping my weight, every now and then I have these moments of big success and little successes.

What would I class as a big success? For me this would include reaching major weight loss goals that I've set for myself. So far I've had a few of those when I reached 400 lbs, 350 lbs, 300 lbs and at the point where I'd lost 100 lbs total. My next big success moment will happen when my weight drops to 250 lbs. I'm confident I'll get there eventually but I'm not in any huge rush.

A little success could be almost anything else. A few that come to mind include adding new holes to my belt as my stomach shrinks, dropping from a 6X shirt to a 3X shirt or as it recently happened, fitting into size 46 jeans and vowing never to need my size 60 jeans ever again.

This past weekend I had another little success. I bought clothes from some place other than the Big & Tall store. Okay, I admit there are times when I've found some clothes at Walmart but they were still size 3X which is nice but not what I would call a normal every day size for clothes.

As I've mentioned before, I hope to get to a fitness club this Autumn and Winter to start toning and lifting weights. It's the logical next step while continuing to try and shed the pounds. So on Sunday after a round of golf I decided it was time to try and find some workout clothes.

I knew what I wanted but didn't have a lot of confidence that they would have the sizes I needed at the local athletic store. I had my mind made up that I really wanted to get some Under Armour clothes. It would be nice to wear something trendy and not created by companies that cater to fat people.

After finding the racks containing the gear I wanted I became worried when the largest sizes they had were 2X. I had my doubts that they would fit. But I figured I was there so I should try them on. At the very least it would give me an idea of how close I was to being able to wear them.

The items I picked out were a 2X loose fit UA Tech short Sleeve T-shirt and a 2X pair of HeatGear Dynasty Vented 6" compression shorts. These are designed to take the place of the old athletic supporter and keep everything in place during exercise. It's more stylish as well. They also prevent chafing and rashes, keep sweat away from the body and are lightweight. They kind of look like cycling shorts except the only extra padding in the rear is courtesy of my own big butt.

Modelling my new fitness clothing that actually fits.

You can imagine how surprised and thrilled I was when I tried them on in the dressing room and found both items fit me. The shorts are a bit snug around the waist but they're supposed to be and feel great. The shirt was the big shock for me. I was amazed at how well it hung on my frame. While I still have a hefty midsection it's clearly no longer protruding as much as it once did.

I got dressed and quickly made my way to the checkout and was thrilled to spend the $70 for these two items. They're cheaper than one pair of work pants I bought recently. I think the biggest surprise of the whole experience was coming to the realization that I had actually bought fitness clothing. What has happened to me?