We spend as much of the summer as we can at the lake, so swimming suits are a major part of my summer wardrobe. I NEVER buy bikini bottoms (and the world in general thanks me for this, I know) but I feel good enough about how I look now to buy the tops. I wear swimming shorts with them and I think I look okay. I have a couple of one piece suits that I wear some, but I'm not comfortable then unless I have on a pair of shorts or a skirt. The thighs are just not good. But I lay out on the back deck of the boat in my bikini top and my swim shorts and I don't feel self conscious at all.

Of course, the first couple of weekends when I'm glow-in-the-dark white are AWFUL, but I tan quickly and that helps everything look better.

Let's face it, everybody is really looking at the young girls in their thongs at the beach. We just think they're all staring at us. Good for all of you who still buy and wear them!

So very true, Paula!!

And it's a fact that tan fat looks much better than white fat.

Sad to say I don't own a bathing suit that fits me. I could go through the bins in storage just to make sure. Last time I wore one was at around 220 in Hawaii with a sarong tied around my thighs. I'm very sad that neither of my girls have taken swimming lessons yet. All because I cannot/will not wear a bathing suit. That's ridiculous! My 4 year old NEEDS lessons this summer and I'm going to be there for her.

Okay I am bringing this thread back up to the top...because I have to buy a swimsuit this week. YIKES.

So what have you all found? What stores (real life and online) do you recommend to go looking for plus sized swimsuits? I am thinking I need a 20 or 22. I just don't have time to run to a bunch of stores with a 2 yr old, so who has them? Target? Walmart? Penneys? Help :)

I always like ordering online myself. I think penneys may be a good place to find decent swimsuits in store.

I take all 300+ lbs of me and I swim at the Public pool. Not to mention water aerobics twice a week at the YMCA. You know, it's not fun and I pray no one will make fun, but once your in the water you are kind of invisible anyway. I just love water too much to pass it up and I live 4 houses from the public pool.

Suits are a HUGE issue for me though. I pay A LOT of money for stuff in my size and even then they don't fit well or last.

:lol: Reminds me of the tanning salon near my old house. Last summer they used that as their slogan. I laughed every time I drove by the HUGE banner. It's true though.

Lyn - I got my skirtini at Sears last year. I think it was only $45. They had a lot of different suits. Plain black ones and flowers to the really bright and fun ones.

You know, after triplets - I don't think a bathing suit will ever live up to the way I remember them looking before the kids (before the weight too!) . I still have abdominal muscles that need to be stitched back together properly! That said I do have a bathing suit. It's practical. It holds the parts. It's rough going on other people's eyes. OH well.

After reading this thread - Thank goodness I reached for the pineapple instead of something "bad" for me.!~~~~~ I was so stressed out and I can feel the cortisol going in my body (I can literally feel the stress...) and I could feel the cravings...and I didn't cave.

I am sad to hear that fat or thin--it's still a nightmare. Butdeep down I think I already knew that. :( However - I am looking forward to having to purchase a different SIZE bathing suit in the near future ;)

Ginger

hahaha you gals bring me to tears lol. I have always lived in fear of swimsuit season. I cant wait to get to my goal weight and sport a nice sexy suit!!!!

Bwah!

And yet here I am in Bangkok, where it's Very Bloody Sunny Indeed all year round, and I'm maintaining a positively Victorian pallor!

...which, granted, is in part because I will always cringe at the prospect of exposing my skin in public in order to get a tan (most especially in a country where US Size 4 is AVERAGE, and where my own Size 18 bod is circus freak fat). But also because I pretty much just burn - too damn fair.

And besides, I always remind myself that it's just fashion - that in the West it's desirable to be tanned these days because most people spend the whole time stuck indoors NOT in the sun, whereas back in the day a tan was equated with having to slave in the fields. (And where I'm living at the moment, all the moisturisers and soaps and everything is marketed as whitening, and women are supposed to aspire to look as pale as they can - because it implies that they aren't stuck outside getting burned.)

It's all marketing, imho. I'm happy to be pasty.

(But, man, I can't wait to be less fat. Even though I'm wincing at the thought of the thighs and upper arms and belly having horrible skin flaps....)

Perhaps a Victorian style bathing suit is going to be The Way Forward?

;)

http://revampvintage.com/index1.html

(...and you know, I'm not even JOKING! I totally plan to get a suit made from one of those designs!)

Someone should put a sticky on this thread . . . it's REALLY motivating at this time of year!

A couple of years ago, I got down to 229 pounds during the summer. I found a very flattering bathing suit at Marshalls - it was by Liz Claiborne, and you might be able to find something similar on their website.

It was a full-coverage 2-piece tankini . . . black background floral pattern halter top with a solid black bottom with a very short skirt sewn onto the front - just long enough to cover the worst inner-thigh and hip area, without really looking skirt-like at all.

I love the beach and pool, so I've dealt with the swimsuit problem every year. It really does suck - but even at my heaviest weights, I didn't let it keep me out of the sun - I just wore a simple black one-piece tank with shorts over it.

I really hope to be able to fit into that swimsuit at some point this summer!

Some funny stuff here.

I live too close to the beach and have 3 kids so I cannot avoid the swimsuit thing. Last year, while sitting on the beach at my heaviest weight ever, it occurred to me that NOBODY should ever be deprived of feeling the sun on their back at the beach and rubbing their toes in the sand -- no matter how large they are.

And, as Paula said, people were not looking at me once school got out and all the teenagers were there!

HAving said that, it will be interesting to buy a swimsuit this year. Normally, the challenge was getting one that fit over my flub. This year, it's getting one that holds some of the wiggly skin in.

I got a 2 piece at Costco. Jantzen, I believe. The top is a halter and the bottoms are wee shorts. It's a 14 and *touch* too tight, but that's my MAJOR incentive to lose some more weight. I want that puppy to be too big by the end of the season!

My last bathing suit I got on eBay. It was Brylane Beach and a tankini. It was the BOMB. In fact, it's going to Cuba with my mum this weekend. :)