Clothes and compliments

One of the coolest things about losing weight is the new clothes! I've talked about some of the new stuff I've bought in the last couple months and some of you have asked to see actual pictures. It was a gorgeous day yesterday so Erich and I went outside and I put on a fashion show. It was kinda windy, so please forgive my rebellious hair. Click on each pic to enlarge.

1. Got this in Ohio when I was there last month shopping with my mom. I think this is my favorite new shirt.


2. This is the 3x gold t-shirt I blogged about last weekend! Hee!


3. Another one from Ohio. Empire waist and ruffled hem - I love this one, too.


4. My rock star t-shirt! LOL! I think it looks a little Freebird-ish, which, as a fan of Bo Bice, is a major, major plus.


Rock on, bitches! Peace out!


5. Love the buckle and asymetrical neckline. I think it's interesting.


6. Cute little top. :)


So there are my purchases for the past month or so. Plus my mother-in-law has altered a bunch of my old clothes so I'm doing ok. Freecycle is a wonderful thing as well. I have a great big bag of smaller clothes just waiting for me that we got from a lady who has also had gastric bypass and is nearly at her goal. All for free - she offered them on Freecycle and we snapped them up! Everything from size 16 shorts to 3x tops. Yay Freecycle!

I'm not used to getting compliments from people about the way I look. It happens more and more these days and I'm really trying to learn to just say 'thank you' and take it sincerely. I think a lot of women have that issue. Someone tells us we look nice or whatever and we try to brush it off or come back with some smart-aleck remark lest the person think we actually think we're attractive!

Several days ago, a woman in my office who works less than part time told me I looked great. She doesn't see me that often, so she was really impressed, she said. She complimented my figure, my skin and told me I was 'glowing'. Wow! My first gut reaction was to laugh because what? Me? As I said, I'm not used to this. It's a learning process to accept statements like that. It took a few seconds before I stopped and just said 'thank you!'

I remember Oprah Winfrey talking about this once on her show and how she used to struggle with compliments, too, especially about her looks. Then shortly after that she had John Travolta on. They were at a gym working out. Oprah made some cutting remark about her own body and John very sweetly and sincerely told her she was beautiful and had a wonderful body. She laughed at first then you could almost see her stop herself, make herself look at him pointedly and say 'Thank you, John. Thank you.' And he said 'you're welcome'.

When you've been ridiculed about your looks for so long, it's hard to accept that someone is being truthful when they say something like that. We learn to detect scorn, even when it's wrapped up in pretty words via sarcasm - all of us have experienced that, especially us fat girls. We develop a defense mechanism of laughing it off, going along with the joke that is us in a vain attempt to avoid being hurt.

I saw screw that. When someone pays you a compliment, accept it. Accept yourself! I'll work on it if you will.