This week, I read an interesting article on the Daily Mail Online, it was about obese people struggling to find fashionable clothing in high street stores. Apparently, overweight people have claimed that they struggle to find fashionable clothing in sizes 14 and above. That in itself I don't believe, because I know for a fact two highstreet clothing stores go up to a size 18.
It's a very controversial subject, and many people are frightened to talk about it, but I want to try and bring some motivation to people who are in this situation. If you can't get the clothes that you want, don't waste your time complaining to stores, because if they don't provide that clothing, I honestly don't think they will change their minds. You should instead, concentrate on using that as motivation to lose weight so you can wear the clothing that you want to wear. Many designer brands don't have larger clothing sizes available, as they 'don't want larger people wearing their clothes', as unfair and as harsh as that sounds. If stores supply trendy clothing for obese people, that will give them no motivation to lose weight, which in turn could lead to an increase in obesity. Currently there is an incentive to lose weight - shift the pounds and wear fashionable, trendy clothes. I have commented before about there not being enough incentives for people to lose weight, and if high street stores start supplying clothing for larger sizes, this will be another incentive gone.
There are thousands of trainers and nutritionists around these days, and now the government are really trying to take action to combat obesity, so clothing companies will think 'is it worth our while to bring out a larger range?'. If obesity starts to decline, people in general will be wearing smaller clothing sizes, which will then prove to the clothing stores that it was a waste of time in bringing out a larger range, as people have lost weight and are wearing smaller clothes.
I can completely understand why larger women are annoyed - you want to wear trendy clothes, but brands don't make your size. Some might mention 'supply and demand' - there are a lot of overweight/obese people in the UK, which would mean that the demand is there, but brands still don't want to bring out a larger range. I think that even the smaller chain clothing stores are trying to act like the big designer brands - not wanting overweight people wearing their clothes. Yes, it's wrong. But as mentioned, I would use that as motivation. If you have two fashionable dresses, one size 8 and one size 22. The two women would be wearing the same designed dress, but people will say that the smaller woman looks much better in it, that's just the way society is. I have had clients say that to me, and say that they wish they could wear the size 8's and 10's, and they use that as motivation to lose weight so they can wear the clothes that they see are won by the models. One client of mine even purchased 3 size 10 dresses that she loves, and looked at them everyday - guess what happened - she lost the weight and now wears her perfect dresses.
This isn't me having a go (not one bit!), this isn't me saying 'tough luck' (not one bit!). This is me saying, 'sod the clothing brands, shift the weight and wear the clothes that you really want to wear! Use that! Don't waste time moaning about it, because quite frankly, the clothing brands don't seem to be taking any notice.
Everyone needs motivation, and this is one of the biggest pieces of motivation that you can have! Everyone deserves to look good, everyone deserves to wear clothes that they want to wear, and you CAN do that. Make a change, eat healthy, exercise, shift that weight and you can wear whatever you want!
Lee Gregory Fitness
