This morning, though, everyone in the house decided we had to buy bathing suits. Our kid likes to swim, and she already has one. However, the two adult lard balls chez nous have no such attire. The kid has been complaining, "you never take me to the pool!"
Her accusations are fair enough. After all, it's not a lot of fun to pay for our kid to swim for two hours while we sit on the rock hard benches watching her have fun while we breathe the over-chlorinated indoor air. We did it when one of our daughter's friends had her 10th birthday party, and it was a drag. We did it grudgingly in support of the birthday girl, who happens to be the daughter of a dear friend. We haven't been too eager to pay money to be bored ever since.
When we set off our our swimsuit shopping adventure, I expected to blog about the trials and tribulations of finding a swimsuit. I expected to blog about all the stores we visited, all the ugly suits we didn't buy, and the endless frustration in finding that the largest suits on the racks were still at least 10 sizes too small.
I mentioned to my stepmother (who is also large but shrinking) and she suggested we save ourselves some frustration and just drive up to a chain specialty shop that carries only large women's clothes. Since it's close to a specialty grocery store chain my stepmother loves, we brought her along for the ride.
With a minimum of fuss and hassle, we found swim suits that fit. I bought a suit that was a two-piece set where the tops and bottoms were sold separately. The bottoms looked like Lycra running shorts, and the top was kind of a shirt-looking thing with spaghetti straps. I'm glad the suits were sold as separates, because I had to buy the bottoms in a larger size than the top. I was lucky, the first set of bottoms I picked off the rack fit (they were the largest size) and I only had to try on two tops to get the right size.
I'm not thrilled with the suit, but the worst of my ugly bits are at least covered. I won't look any worse than the other whales we've sighted at the pool. When I jump in, I'll just become another one of the pod. My suit is mostly black with a blue stripe, so perhaps I could pretend I'm a blue whale or something. I just hope I don't confuse the lifeguards -- I wouldn't want them coming after me with a harpoon.
The only really bad part of the swimsuits were their price tags. We paid $70 each for the swimsuits, and that was after the 20% discount. Unbelievable. I have never spent so much money on swimming clothes in my life. When I saw the price tag, I thought about putting the suit back on the rack, but decided against it, only because the amount of whining my kid can exude is probably more than the hassle of paying so much for a pair of swimsuits.
Oh well, at least mine is really stretchy. Hopefully I won't shrink out of it too soon.
Note to self: Now I have yet another reason to lose weight. Stores charge an arm and a leg for plus-sized swim wear.
2 comments:
GOOD FOR YOU! I think almost everyone hates swimsuit shopping if they are over size 8. I'm VERY happy it didn't take 100 suits to try on, too! Maybe the cost of the suits with move to the back of your head when you are enjoying the pool rather than getting "bench butt" while watching your kiddo :-)
Thanks for answering my questions. It's always very interesting to see each person's goals and how they plan to get there. I, too, HATE exercising. I have ALWAYS hated it. I'm hoping if I keep telling myself, "I love it! I love it!" that eventually I'll trick my brain into at least liking it.
Hey there! I stumbled across your blog looking for suit for a friend of mine, and thought I'd leave you my two cents (having done, and DONE the plus size swimsuit shop). I looove Speedo swimsuits. My heaviest was 260lbs., and they had swimsuits far beyond that even. They are all one piece, but I prefer it, and they offer 'endurance' fabric, which has some type of polyester blend in it, so they don't stretch or bleed in heated pools and they last a lot longer than just the Lycra. Plus (my fav part) they have 'conservative' cuts which mean you can choose how high the sides come up, and how much bum coverage you get. But that's just my rave. It's definitely harder to shop for a suit in an athletic store (which is where you'll find the speedos usually) than a plus-size store, but if you're doing some serious laps, I think it's the best way to go. They are expensive as well ($70-90), but hopefully, the only time you'll replace one is when it's getting saggy and about to fall off...
Oh, and on a weight loss note, I've found this website (sort of a social network for goal achieving/weight loss) very, very helpful! (I've lost nearly 25 pounds in eight weeks, just by having a place to track my progress, and encouragements from others, and articles that get me off my sorry bum and out exercising: I hate exercise too, shannon...)
SparkPeople.com
and my page... come visit!
Ali A-Go-Go's page
strange wandering girl out! :)
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