Thursday, October 18, 2007

Skinny Jeans

I only know about the female concept of "skinny jeans"* because of the tv show, Sex and the City.

I remember watching that episode, thinking that this was another one of those little windows into the world of women which I might never have known about, otherwise (despite being in committed relationships for most of my adult life).

I never thought the day would come when I'd have my OWN pair of so-called "skinny jeans." In my case, they happen to be pairs of dress-pants that I bought but didn't wear much. Occasionally, I'd get the itch to wear my really cool slacks, but find myself unable/barely able to scratch it because my waist-line had expanded so much.

I was never a fat slob but I did gain weight over the years that many of these pants hung in my closet. After realizing the situation, I resolved to start wearing my coolest clothes, instead of waiting for only the coolest of occasions. They're meant to be worn, not collect dust in a dark closet.

In some cases, I thought the day might come in which I'd get back on that weight bench and trim up enough to wear my gear. Well, instead of that happening, I experienced a ton of workplace stress which resulted in my going from 205 pounds to 180 pounds. I was so busy being concerned about how that stress was affecting my body that it, understandably, never occurred to me that I might actually be able to wear those "skinny" clothes, again... not until I was getting rid of some clothes and other items for a big garage sale (pack-rat purging, in my case).

Before tossing those slacks in the trash/sell piles, I'd just noticed my smaller waist in the mirror. I decided to try on some stuff and, to my surprise, they fit just like they did the day I bought them.

Unfortunately, this also means that some of my favored articles of clothing are now a size or two too big, for me. I can still get away with them, more or less, but many of them fall off me if I go belt-less.

Anyway, as I've said, before, I'm treating non-ideal and completely accidental incidence of weight-loss like an opportunity to get and stay healthy. It just so happens I also get the benefit of wearing some clothes I'd all but given-up on, over the years.

So yeah, I've got "skinny jeans." And I can actually wear'em.

(Too bad that, for a man, "skinny" isn't a compliment. I still need to get my ass back on that weight bench.)




* - "Skinny jeans" are the jeans you can't (or can barely) wear, anymore, but that you keep anyway, to use as inspiration to lose that extra weight, hoping you'll one day be able to wear them, again.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How cute! Its like shopping in your own closet. And skinny can be a compliment for a man......hehe.

But scrawny is downright offensive. So try not to take it that far.

nikki said...

damnit! how come when women are stressed we put ON twenty pounds?

and yeah, skinny on a man ain't cute. then again, i've heard the really scrawny cats are well-endowed so i ain't mad at it.

Liz Dwyer said...

However you got there, stress or working out, good for you. That's a whole lotta weight to take off and I bet you feel better. My husband recently took off 20 pounds but he did it through acting like he's in the military. He was having weird back pains but those are all gone now.

I can't wear my skinny jeans for more than an hour. Sigh.

Miz JJ said...

Congrats on fitting into your skinny pants again!

Anonymous said...

These days I pretty much can't fit anything that I own. The conundrum is that I'm fat and my wife loves it, and thinks I'm not. Go figure. I hope you didn't get rid of the pants!