Clothes ... that fit?

So, a year ago at this time I was 48 pounds heavier than what I am now.  That's a lot of pounds!  The speaker at Friday's WLC meeting brought in a pound of butter as a visual aid. She said she brought it in to remind the group what a pound looks like. She said some folks in the group had emailed her with sad statements like, "I only lost one measly little pound this week...." so she brought in a pound of butter and asked us to imagine that pound coming right off each of our thighs!  I loved the visual especially after remembering that I have lost almost 50 of those bad boys!

x50

But, all this losing and reshaping my body is giving me clothing nightmares.  Not the kind of nightmares you dream in your sleep, but the kind that you live in your morning routines where you try shirt after shirt after shirt on and don't like the way anything looks on you or ...even more fun of course... the pants!

When I lost the first 35 after last summer's WLC, I went clothes shopping.  I thought it would be FUN! Sounds fun, right? Getting new clothes after a significant loss like that?  I mean, 35 pounds surely equals a couple of pant sizes...   right?

That's where I have mental issues. (No husby, I don't need a reminder that I've always had mental issues, kay? I'm talking about clothes here, thanks.)

I mean, I went shopping and tried on a billion mazillion trillion different pairs of pants and didn't like any of them! I used to be a size 16 pants (on a good day!) and those are much too big.  I tried on some 14s - still baggy.  The 12s are incredibly small... I think?

This Goldilocks game has to stop.   I think I know why it's happening.
Most of my adult life, I've worn baggy clothes. Espcially my jeans/pants. I've always wanted them loose so I have room to grow. Because that's all I've ever done. GROW.  I've never had the pleasure of shrinking before.  And, when clothes fit tight, it just means I need to go one size bigger.  In my head, at least.

So where am I now?  I'm finding myself buying NEW pants (as a weight loss REWARD) that are too big!  My two newest pants, both of which I love, slip on and off my hips without even unbuttoning or unzipping them.

To me, this is a hurdle I must overcome.

Just recently (VERY recently, like last week recently) my favorite brown belt was suddenly TOO BIG.  The tightest notch on the belt was still too loose to hold my britches up.

It's time to re-train my brain to understand what clothes that fit feel like.  I'm not sure how I'm going to do this. Clothes are a really big part of my budget and I don't want to just go buying clothes that should be my size and then never wear them because they're not comfortable.  I honestly don't know how to shop for clothes now.  This is a bummer!  Suggestions are welcome!