So much for...

the $2.99 panty sale at Victoria's Secret.

I hated VS for the longest time. I once had a memorable conversation with my friend Jacob. We had just finished shopping at a mall in Austin, Texas and were on the way to his car when I spied a woman carrying a distinctive pink bag. I forget which of us actually started the conversation, but I commented that I did not like VS because they did carried such a limited range of bra sizes, despite having ads that focused on big cleavage. He tentatively said "so what is your size?" Heh. Boys. I raised my eyebrow at him and he went on to explain that an ex-girlfriend had the same complaint. I said, "OK, well they only go up to about a 38D and I'm bigger than that". He wasn't my boyfriend, he wasn't getting any more detail than that. (For that matter, dear readers, neither are you.)

I weighed approximately 250 pounds at that time, and later gained even more weight. Bras were both expensive and hard to find, particularly cute/sexy ones. Same for panties. Apparently the fashion industry thinks that all full-figured women want to wear that fugly granny underwear and industrial-strength-white-or-black-only bras. It certainly can be hard to find anything else.

Later, as I started losing weight, I swore I would never buy anything from Victoria's Secret as a matter of principle. It was sort of a solidarity thing with my other amply endowed friends and family. Gradually, though, I stopped caring so much.

Which brings me to the $2.99 panty sale.

This past weekend, I went shopping with 2 sisters and 2 friends. While I was not bra shopping, 3 of them swore by VS panties and how comfortable they are. They like how they feel sexy in them, the men in their lives like how they look in them, etc.

So I caved. I want to feel sexy and attractive to men after all. I bought 4 pairs, basing my size choice on what my one sister wears as she and I wear the same size pants, etc. I chose a variety of fabrics and styles. Yes, I even got a thong.

Uh yeah.

While these things might be OK for someone with hips like I have, they are not made for any woman who does not have a relatively flat stomach. Which I do not, nor will I ever have it without surgical intervention. Not only are they not flattering, they are not particularly comfortable. Even getting the next size up (a good idea in retrospect) would not really solve either of those problems.

So much for feeling sexy because of some cute new panties. I'll have to look for other means of finding that spark in myself. At least I did not pay full price to find out that Victoria's Secret stuff ain't all that.

And at least none of the pairs were in my favorite leopard print. My disappointment would have been total. ;-)