Too Fat To Shop

Is it just me this happens to?

Motivated by my great weight loss this week I dug out an old exercise video I bought in the cheap bins at Woolworth's last Christmas...I scanned through it to note down timings of the different workouts for future use, then prepared myself to jump around like a loon...find sensible clothes, debate footwear and shut the dogs away...they only ever want to jump about and join in, generally barking and frequently ending up in a 5-dog fight...not fun, so away they went.
Back to the footwear issue...hmmm...here's the problem...I'm not a shoesy girl...in fact I truly don't understand the fascination with shoes that other members of my sex can have...I like my shoes to be functional for what I need, and I like to be prepared should a shirehorse tread on me, or a bus run over my foot... For every day I have comfy steel toe cap boots. For work I have the same comfy steel toe cap boots. For going out to the pub etc,at the bottom of my jeans you'll find the same pair of steel toe cap boots. For going out to posh places I have one smart pair of navy blue court shoes...they are all I have in this category, so I use my imagination when wearing them with things they don't match. They are a size too small, and have me crippled with pain within an hour of wearing them...coming home from formal functions will *ALWAYS* find me bare foot and in agony. For slopping around the house, when I don't have my steel toe caps on I've got an ancient pair of Guinness slippers...and for hot days I have a functional pair of flip flops...none of these shoes/boots are very practical for leaping around to an exercise video...so I picked up my purse and bravely headed into town, wearing my favourite steelies and looking all feminine *LOL*.

I walked into my local sport shop (a large national if not international chain) and promptly got ignored. After all...look at the size of me, I surely can't be in there to actually BUY anything, so why bother to serve me? I found a couple of styles of trainer that I liked, picked them up and looked around me for a sales person....they all suddenly looked really busy (I was the only customer in there). I waited patiently for one of them to finish counting laces...and then finally I walked up to one of them. "May I try on these in sizes 7 and 8 (technically I'm a UK7 but I have very wide feet, so size 7 often doesn't fit...and in 'narrow' Ladies styles, forget it...go for the 8 to 9). Anyway, the staff member I spoke to pointed out that they had sold out of both sizes in one of the styles I'd chosen, and only had an 8 in the other...at this point, she turned away from me and resumed inspecting her fingernails...very busy work for a girl. I turned towards one of the lads working there, and to be fair to him he chose instead to attend to a customer who literally walked in the door at that point. I took a deep breath, forced a smile on my face and approached the third and final member of staff...I held out the second pair towards him and politely demanded the UK8 in that style. He couldn't really back out of that, and duly brought a pair of trainers out of the stock room for me, whereupon he put them down on the bench seat, said "there you are" and walked off, to straighten the t-shirt rail no doubt. Feeling a little humiliated at this point I sat down on the bench and put them on. I wasn't quite sure how they should fit, I wasn't quite sure on the laces arrangement..I haven't owned a pair of runners since I was about 12...I looked around for one the staff to help me, they seemed frightfully busy in the till area discussing last night's television offerings. I collared the same lad to help me...but he looked a bit displeased at being taken away from his riveting conversation. He begrudgingly advised me on fit, and how tight to have the laces etc...and so I bought them. But I don't think I'll buy form there again...the sniggering form the other staff as he asked me how strenuous I was planning to work out was almost too much to bear...I knew if I lost it with them I'd lose it big time...and so it was much more dignified (I think) to just swallow it down, pay up and walk out...