Amen for the Spanx Bra-llelujah!

When I was first approached about reviewing the Spanx Bra-llelujah bra*, I wasn’t sure what kind of feedback I would be able to provide. While I could definitely use some help in the lower half of my body in terms of holding it all in, I am the quintessential pear shape, barely filling out an A-cup on top. But, what the heck, I thought. If it didn’t work out for me, I certainly know plenty of women who would love the chance to review the bra, so I agreed to take a look at it.

Well, sorry ladies. It’s mine! ALL MINE!

Before I go into why I love this bra, here’s the description of the bra that came on the tag:

Why Bra-llelujah?? Because it’s the first ever bra designed backwards to smooth and flatter your back! It has molded cups and naturally adjusting hosiery straps that won’t dig in. It’s soooo comfortable you’ll want to sing about it!

Honestly, I don’t usually have problems (I think??) with back bulge. I have had bra fittings before, and accordingly have bras that fit me fairly well without bulging in the back. I say “fairly” because believe it or not, having tiny ta-tas can make it extra-ordinarily hard to find well fitting bras. While larger chested women have their own set of problems like back pain, and straps digging in, I have problems like bras slipping up over the nips when I raise my arms, and straps constantly falling down. Again, better fitting bras do this less, but it’s been hard to find bras that fit perfectly …. until now.

Bra-llelujah! (Can you hear the singing yet?)

When I got the bra, I wasn’t even sure it was going to fit. Instead of my usual 36 A, the bra was a 34 B. (Maybe it’s time to get a bra fitting again!) But when I put it on and hooked the clasp in the front, I could not believe how amazingly comfortable this bra was. Yes, that’s right. A comfortable bra. You might have thought that was an oxymoron, but I am here to tell you it IS possible!

The fit is perfect, and the stretchy “hosiery” fabric has enough give to move with you while staying put. I am wearing it at this moment but the only reason I am actually aware of the fact that I am wearing it is because I am writing about it. I think I could seriously live in this bra.

So, whether your an A cup or a DD, if you’re looking for an uber-comfortable bra that can also flatter your back, this bra is for you!

Available at Lane Bryant (where right now they are having a Buy 2 Get 2 Free promotion) and Nordstrom.

* Per FTC guidelines, I am required by law to disclose this item was given to me by Lane Bryant, Inc. to review.

A Confession in Numbers

I am 37 years old. I am 5 feet 5 inches tall. I weigh 159 pounds. I wear a size 36 AA bra. My pant size ranges from a 10 to a 12.

These are numbers that so many people don’t share — at least in full honesty. Some lie about their age or are too embarrassed to admit it. Many lie about their weight, and we’d probably be surprised how many people stretch the truth a bit on their height.

I decided I am going to break the taboo and share my numbers here … publicly … for anyone to see. And guess what … I have not been sucked down into a pit of shame for doing so. To me, they are just numbers. There is no value or meaning behind them. They are a numerical representation of particular facts pertaining to me. But I have not always felt this way.

When I was in my teens and early twenties, I always looked much younger than my age. When I was 17, I was offered a children’s menu at a restaurant. When I was 19, people would ask me what grade (in high school) I was in. When I was 25 people would inquire about my major (when I had completed my degree 4 years prior). For the most part, I was annoyed because if people thought I was younger, they also treated me that way, condescending to me, or at least that’s what I thought. But I also felt mature for my age, and was threatened if people undermined that feeling by assuming I was younger (a clear indication I still had some growing up to do). Of course, as I got older, the tables began to turn, and as the number of times I got carded had an inverse relationship with the number of gray hairs I found, I began to fear aging a little more.

My height, though less of an issue was also something I was insecure about. For most of my young adult life, I was 5 feet, 3 and 3/4 inches. Of course, it was natural to round up, but I hated the idea of being short. That probably stemmed from the fact that my short stature was accompanied by a more rounded shape. Which brings me to the next number: my weight.

Until pretty recently in my life, my weight — whether I knew exactly what it was, or shied away from that knowledge in the pursuit of blissful ignorance — had an enormous impact on my mood. If I woke up feeling great, and stepped on the scale only to find an unexpectedly high number, my mood was instantly deflated, and I might stay depressed for days. The opposite also held true, however, and a low number could add a note of joy to my day. The same could be said for the times I went into a dressing room and tried on an item of clothing. If I tried on my usual size and it was too big, I was overjoyed. If the size I picked out was too tight, I was devastated. Never mind that there are so many factors in what goes behind that number on the tag ranging from cost of fabric to clever marketing.

As for my bra size, well, in this breast-obsessed culture, it can be just as hard to accept small breasts as it can to accept a larger stomach (and even more difficult if you have both!). I sometimes felt humiliated going into Victoria’s Secret and not being able to find a single bra that fit my less endowed chest.

But allowing any of these numbers to have a such an impact on our outlook in life can be so hindering, or worse, damaging. Through a lot of work, I have learned to embrace each of these numbers (though oddly enough, I now measure at 5′5″ — perhaps due to a higher self esteem and better posture??) no matter what they are. I do not fear my age, but embrace the wisdom and experience that has come with each year I have passed.

I do not fear the number on the scale. Learning how to see each of these numbers for what they are has been liberating for me, and I have to say has led me to a more peaceful place in life since I know longer devote the majority of my effort resisting them — mostly the one on the scale.

So, what are your numbers?

Celebrate Your Body

Do you love your body? No, I’m not talking about looking in the mirror every day, and saying “Wow!” Not the kind of love that comes from a guy that says “hey, your body is hot!” I am talking about love on a deeper level. I am talking about the kind of love that is based on respect and trust and appreciation. If you’re saying “huh?” then maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your relationship with your body.

It seems to be that younger and younger girls are comparing their bodies to one another, noticing who is fat and who is thin, and as they progress into puberty, who has the biggest, smallest, or perkiest breasts. Just the other day, a friend was telling me that she heard a bunch of first-grade girls talking about whose mother was the thinnest and whose was the fattest. It only gets worse as they get older. As physical appearance becomes more and more of the focus of girls and adolescents, they examine, admire or criticize every feature on their own bodies and those of every girl around them. And thus they learn — through a variety of influences — to begin to judge their bodies based on what they see around them. To some extent this process is natural, particularly in adolescence.  But when we assign values to these differences, rather than just recognizing them for exactly that — differences — then it can create a poor self-body image that can last a lifetime.

Your relationship with your body may not be something you have put a lot of thought into. After all, doesn’t everyone want to change their body? It seems normal to be unhappy in the skin you are in. Do you know any woman who isn’t one of the following: on a diet, a work-out fiend, or feeling like she should be on a diet or a work-out fiend? This diet mentality our culture has created leaves us with virtually no choice but to hate our bodies and think that happiness comes in a size 2.

Someone close to me recently said, “I hear that women are A LOT more comfortable in their own skin in their 40s.  So that’s one reason I’m looking forward to my 40s.” But I believe it is possible to break free from the cycle of self loathing based on what you see in the mirror and be comfortable in your own skin NOW. It does takes work, and the motivation to want to make peace with your body, at any size, but ultimately the ability to love yourself unconditionally — and the contentment that comes with that — is worth the effort.

An important component to accepting yourself is to stop judging others by their physical attributes. When you are walking through the mall, do you notice the appearance of every woman around you? In your head do you hear things like “That woman has such thin legs.” “She has the perfect butt.” “Her stomach is so flat.” “Those breasts are so perky and round.” “She has goddess hair!”

It may seem innocent enough to make those quiet observations, but following each one, are probably thoughts like “I wish my legs were that thin.” ” I wish my butt looked that good.” “I’d be so much more attractive if my stomach were flat.” “I’d probably get a lot more attention if my breasts looked that good.” “I’ll never have hair as beautiful as hers.”

Each time you make an observation about someone else’s appearance, you might use it to degrade yourself and chip away at your own self image. You are admiring in them what you wish you had in yourself, probably because you believe you ultimately would be a happier, more fulfilled person if you looked like someone else. Conversely, if you find yourself criticizing an equal number of women for their flaws, “oh my god, look at that muffin-top”, or “wow, at least I’m not that big”, you are still judging in them what you most dislike or fear in yourself. Maybe you don’t look like them now, but you are worried that you could or will look like them some day (or maybe you did in the past), and that would make you less valuable as a person in your eyes.

To break the habit of judging other women, find something about them to admire that doesn’t have to do with their physical attributes. If it’s someone you know, you can reflect on what a good mother they are, or a talent they have for sewing, or some other craft. Maybe she has a great pair of earrings you admire. Find something positive to reflect on because the more you hear a postive voice in your head, the more you will be able to reflect positively on yourself.

And speaking of yourself, it’s time to tackle those thoughts you have when you look in the mirror. Or maybe you avoid looking in the mirror at all. But if you don’t find love for yourself, and if can’t find a way to face what you see in the mirror now, you will never have a body you can feel proud of and find the happiness you deserve. You may wonder how you can love your body, and you might even be fearful that loving your body at its current size will lead you into complacency, encouraging you to live out your life as a couch potato with no motivation to be healthy. But I would argue that part of loving your body is to strive to be healthy.

Last year, while attending a congressional hearing on eating disorders and health insurance issues pertaining to mental health, I asked the panel, “How do you balance the concept of loving and accepting your body with addressing the obesity epidemic our country faces?” The response I was given supports the idea that when you truly love your body, you naturally want to do right by it, and the decisions you make in your day-to-day life will lead you to better health. Remember, loving your body doesn’t have to mean you don’t want to change it for the better. But it does mean listening to it and treating it with respect.

When you really do respect your body — with all of its imperfections — you will be more in tune to what your body needs, and how it feels. Then suddenly, when you eat a whole pint of ice cream, instead of feeling guilty about the number of calories and fat you consumed, you are more aware simply of how it makes your body feel, and you may just realize that physically you feel pretty terrible. Just like it only takes a couple of times for you to realize how much alchohol it takes to put you past the point of comfort, it may just be that after a couple of times of listening to your body during and after a binge, you realize how awful it feels. In the past, you probably were so consumed with guilt and worry after binging, you were numb to the signals your body was sending you saying “Hey! I’ve had enough, this doeesn’t feel very good.” But by forming a better relationship with your body, you can learn to honor it. To take a line from the book Intuitive Eating, “respecting your body means taking care of your health.” They go on to add, “You don’t have to like every part of your body to respect it. In fact, you don’t have to immediately accept where your body is now to respect. Respecting your body means treating with dignity, and meeting its basic needs.”

In the same way that you can stop judging others, you can stop judging yourself. When you hear negative thoughts about yourself in your head, step in and replace them with positive thoughts. If you can, start by focusing on one body part that you do actually like. Maybe it’s your hair, maybe it’s your lips, maybe it’s your feet. It doesn’t really matter what body part it is, as long as it is one that makes you feel good when you reflect on. For some people though, even this step is difficult. Maybe there is nothing about your physical appearance that you can appreciate right now. If that’s the case, you can reflect on the functionality of certain body parts, without which you would no doubt feel lacking. If you don’t like how your legs look, reflect on their strength and how they carry you where you want to go. If you feel negatively about your arms, think of how they carry, hold, and comfort your children or other loved ones. If you hate your stomach, think about the magnifcance of the machinery inside, digesting your food and nourishing your body, because really, no matter what your body looks like, it IS a magificent piece of machinery. Not only do our bodies carry us through life, they make life!

Finding a physical activity you enjoy can you help you appreciate your body and all it can for for you. It doesn’t have to be the strenuous high-impact aerobics class you might think you need to do to burn a ton of calories. It can be something as simple as gardening, or taking walks, or riding your bike, not for the sake of repenting your eating “sins” from the night before, but for the pleasure of moving. Feel your muscles as they work for you, lifting you, propelling you forward, carrying your body through your activity. Appreciate the motions that move you.

Often times, when we feel unattractive, it’s as if we set out to prove a point by giving up on our appearance. We wear clothes that aren’t flattering and/or don’t fit. We don’t bother doing much, if anything with our hair. And make-up? Forget it! But it’s amazing how making a few changes in your clothes, hair and make-up can go a long way to transforming you and making you feel better and more attractive, without ever shedding a pound. Have you ever seen the show What Not to Wear on The Learning Channel? Time and time again they feature women with no self confidence, and a poor body image. Sure, some women are simply misguided in their fashion sense, but the vast majority of participants on the show are women that have basically just given up on the idea that they can ever look good. But if you look through their before and after galleries, you can see what an amazing difference a few changes can make. Of course, you don’t have to go on the show to find out how to dress for your shape and size. They offer some great hard-to-fit tips on their web site.

I realize not every one can go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. Still, you can re-evaluate what you do have in your closet, figure out what looks best on you, and let go of the things don’t and may never fit, especially your “goal” clothes. You know what I am talking about … clothes you are convinced will motivate you to lose weight, by looking back at you every day and telling you that you are worthless until you fit into them. At the very least, get rid of the clothes that make you feel feel like you are going to pop every time you wear them. Who needs a constant reminder that you are too big for you clothes? If you think it will serve as a reminder to control your eating, ask yourself “Has it worked so far?”. Probably not.

If it is in your budget to buy some new clothes, then do it. Stop telling yourself you don’t deserve new, attractive clothes until you lose weight. You deserve to look and feel good all the time, so stop punishing yourself. If you’ve been dying to get a new pair of jeans, get them now! And don’t get your heart set on a certain style that quite honestly might not work with your body shape. Instead find fits that are flattering on your body … the one you have now. And no excuses about how they don’t make cute, attractive clothes in your size. There is good fashion for every shape and size, it’s just sometimes a little harder to find (and a good tailor doesn’t hurt). All the major retail chains have offer a great selection of plus sizes, and Lane Bryant makes plus size fashions that can make anyone feel beautiful.

Good fitting undergarments can go a long way to boosting your self confidence too. You may be asking, “What does underwear have to do with anything, when nobody sees it?”. First of all, no one may see the bra you’re wearing, but they sure as heck can tell if it fits you properly. If you’re bulging out of your bra, or your breasts are literally weighing you down, it’s not just uncomfortable to you, it noticeable to everyone else. A good fitting bra can help your posture, and leave you feeling more comfortable in general. (For more on bras, read Taking Care of the “Girls”.) Plus, you might just get a surprising boost to your self confidence when you don a little sexy lingerie. And don’t let your size stop you from feeling sexy. There’s plenty of lingerie out there for all sizes, big and small.

Finally, if you really do need to lose weight, you need to take another look at your goals. First of all, are you trying to lose weight because there are health concerns, and it’s effecting your quality of life because every day things are much harder to do? If that’s the case, then avoid focusing on numbers, and instead try to pay attention to how your body feels as you learn to listen to it more. Instead of measuring your changes by numbers on the scale or a size on a tag, base your goals on measurements of what your body can do. Maybe going up the stairs takes your breath away, so when you can go up the stairs without becoming breathless, that’s something to celebrate! When you can play with your kids longer, chasing them around because your body feels better, that’s something to feel good about. (For more on finding other measures of success, read Do Numbers Rule Your Life?)

Maybe, in reality, your body is already at a healthy weight but because you don’t believe it meets the societal idea for thinness, you are unhappy with your body and want to lose more weight. Check in with yourself, dig dip, and try to determine why you really want to lose weight. What in your life will change when you are ten pounds lighter? Will you be happier? Maybe … temporarily, but sooner or later, you will realize that happiness doesn’t come in a size 2. Happiness comes from within. And until you love and respect your body, happiness will always be the next size down.

If you have a daughter, imagine knowing that she feels about her body, the same way you feel about yours. No matter what her size, wouldn’t you want her … wouldn’t you encourage her to feel good about herself. Wouldn’t you want your own daughter to realize her self-worth was based on more than her size, and wouldn’t you always encourage her to find ways to feel good about herself that don’t involve comparing her body to every other girl? If the thought of your own daughter beating herself up contstantly breaks your heart, then you need to imagine your inner self as a child whom has become the recipient of your contsant abuse through negative thoughts, and it’s time to stop the abuse. You love your friends, your family, your spouse or partner, your children, unconditionally, overlooking, and even embracing their imperfections. It’s time to treat your own body with the same love and respect.

Taking Care of the “Girls”

Chances are, you probably either feel like the breast fairy was drunk when she was doling out the goods and gave you WAY too much, or she skipped over you entirely. I meet very few women who are actually satisfied with their breasts (unless of course they paid for them). Consequently, we don’t put a lot of effort into keeping them happy. Either you’re so well endowed, you’ve given up entirely on finding bras that both keep everything in place AND look feminine and pretty, OR, you feel like you have nothing there to worry about holding in place and “dress up”, so why bother with anything at all.

Fortunately, where there’s a market segment, there’s a way. No matter what your size or shape, I assure you, you can find attractive, reasonably priced bras to suit your style, your chest and your wallet.

Of course, for starters, it’s absolutely imperative that you are looking at the right sizes. Erase all ideas of what numbers and letters you think you should be wearing, and start from ground zero. Playtex offers step by step instructions on how to take measurements to ensure a proper fit and even lets you download a tape measure if you don’t already have one handy. According to my friend Courtney who has had experience both in working at Victoria’s Secret AND in having a large chest, proper bra fitting is essential, particularly for larger chested women. She recommends the staff in the lingerie department of any Nordstrom store as a good resource for a proper fitting. (Of course, you don’t have to buy their lingerie to be properly sized.) I’ve also had good experiences in the Maidenform stores which can usually be found at outlet shopping centers.

Once you’ve determined your size, take a good look at the bras you are already wearing. If you have a larger chest, signs that you might not be wearing the right size are frequent back aches, indentations on the shoulders from your bra, and your breasts “spilling” out over the top of your bra cups (of course, for some, this look is intentional). For smaller chested women, if your bra comes up every time you raise your arms, that’s a pretty good sign that you need a better fit. (Personally, I thought it was my lot in life for my bras to do just that. I figured I had nothing there to to hold them in place — until I got a proper fitting and found it was possible to find a bra that does stay in place!)

Now that you’ve probably realized that most of your bras are A.) the wrong size, B.) worn out, and C.) just plain ugly, it’s time to go shopping! Sure, you can go to Victoria’s Secret, but if you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’ve given up on finding a bra that fits you in a store that was made for the perfectly endowed woman.  Playtex offers a pretty good variety of bras in all sizes. Many of the styles are functional but still feminine, like the Playtex Secrets line. For something a little more adventurous in the larger sizes, check out Pampered Passions and BiggerBras.com.

If you fall on the other side of the spectrum, try Lula Lu , whose motto is “who says small isn’t beautiful”? A-men sister! I always get so annoyed when I try to find a bra in my size at Victoria’s Secret, because the assumption is, if you wear an A cup, you most certainly want to be at least a B, and therefore want LOTS of padding. Sure, there are times when a little extra something helps complete an outfit, but I am also proud of my size and don’t feel like I need to “fake it” all the time. LulaLu.com offers a great selection of bras — padded or not padded — in A and AA,and at reasonable prices.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what size you are, if you have a properly fitted bra that you can feel good in. So please, treat the “girls” right and give them the support they need.

Support the ‘Girls’ and Breast Cancer Research

Hopefully by now you’ve already read the VenusVision article Taking Care of the ‘Girls’ about finding the right bras to match your size, style, and body shape. In the article, one experienced friend mentioned Nordstrom as a great place to find experienced staff to help you with your bra-fitting needs.

Well, if you haven’t already gone out to find a proper bra that you can feel good in, now is a good time to get fitted at Nordstrom, during their Nordstrom Fits America event in Nordstrom stores across the country. Of course, you don’t have to buy anything to get help from a certified fit expert, but if you do make a purchase from one of 20 brands that Nordstrom has partnered with, $2 will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Research Fund for each bra you buy. They even carry a full line of mastectomy products and prosthesis bras.

So support your ‘girls’ and breast cancer research, and find out when Nordstrom will be hosting an event near you.