Norm has no clothes!

 Clothes for a fat man are very expensive, and keeping myself in clothes while losing weight has been an interesting challenge.  Since most of my clothes have been custom made for me, I have been having them taken in on occasion, but for the most part I've just been wearing clothes that are way too big for me.
 The last few months I've been in a clothing transition where I'm nearing a size where clothes are readily available at the store, off the shelf, but still large enough that those clothes aren't cheap and more importantly, hard to find in second had thrift stores.

Norm at 249 pounds, Hobo at 46 pounds.

 

 As recently as last week I've been in dire need of pants.  I had enough shirts to last me a while, but the only pair of pants I had were way too big for me.  Besides that I had one pair of sweatpants and 4 pairs of shorts.
 So when my wife saw a yard sale ad on craigslist that mentioned larger sized mens clothes, we hopped in the car and headed off!   I found four pairs of pants there, sized 46, and one pair of jeans, sized 44.  I bought them all!  I honestly didn't think any of these pants would fit me right now.  I was buying them so I'd have pants to wear when I lost a bit more weight. I was quite surprised when I got home and tried them on and all of the sized 46 pants fit! 

 Then my mother lets me know she found a couple pairs of jeans at the thrift store.  One sized 44, one sized 46.   The larger pair fits just fine!  So I now have enough pants in my current size to keep me happy, and I have two pairs of jeans in the next sized down waiting for me.  But the biggest surprise came as I walked through a thrift store yesterday looking at clothes. In the men's section they had a large selection of jeans for men all the way up through sized 44!!  What this means is that from here on in I can walk into a thrift store and find clothes THAT FIT ME!!  I am honest when I tell you that nothing else I've experienced along this weight loss journey of mine has brought me more joy!

 This is an appropriate time and place to give a shout out to my brother, who has been my tailor for quite a few years.  He has kept me in pants for a long time! Very sturdy, very comfortable, and most important, very BIG pants.  Most clothing for fat people is exactly the same as clothing for smaller people, only cut bigger, and that doesn't work so well for very fat people because there are more factors involved than just cutting the clothing bigger. The clothes my brother has made for me over the years have been as comfortable, or more comfortable than any clothes anyone wears.

 Thanks Al!

Happy Eating!

 -Norm  aka John Smith