New painting shorts and a bruised pride
My painting shorts had seen better days. Much better days.
The two cargo shorts I bought sometime when I was living in California were pretty ratty when I retired them from everyday use. Three extra years of off-and-on painting turned them into Swiss cheese. (Not that anything about painting itself did that.) There were holes in the groin, pockets, and crotch. It was past time to put them down, and I decided to finally do it last week. My parents’ neighbors have five young kids, so I definitely needed new, less revealing, shorts before I started painting their bathrooms.
I paid a visit to Paul’s and found some nice work shorts. I grabbed a pair of 34s and, begrudgingly, a pair of 36s.
I have been wearing 34s for years. Having lost a lot of weight a couple times in my life, maintaining a 34-inch waistline has been a point of pride. However, I have been pushing the envelope the past couple years. Though I have kept my weight within a decent range (not my own, or the recommended, ideal), I seem to have been trending toward wearing 36-inch pants and shorts.
I don’t want to wear pants or shorts with a 36-inch waistline.
Ironically, though, I have a 36-inch waistline. The 34-inch pants and shorts I’ve been wearing are a bad measure of my actual waistline, especially since I like a relaxed fit. Measurements seem to differ by manufacturer and I seek 34s that fit — not those that are on the tight side and bruise my pride. But wrap a tape measure around my waist and I’m sure you’ll get 36 inches. That was the result when I bought slacks recently. I hung my head in shame after that — just as I did at Paul’s when I replaced the 34s on the rack and bought the 36s.
Ugh!
What am I getting at here? Well, that I’m heavier than I want to be, than I should be. I have been for a while. Technically, I’m overweight; supposedly, the ideal weight for a man of my height is around 160. I don’t think I should drop that low, but I do need to drop weight — and at least two inches from my waistline.
The two cargo shorts I bought sometime when I was living in California were pretty ratty when I retired them from everyday use. Three extra years of off-and-on painting turned them into Swiss cheese. (Not that anything about painting itself did that.) There were holes in the groin, pockets, and crotch. It was past time to put them down, and I decided to finally do it last week. My parents’ neighbors have five young kids, so I definitely needed new, less revealing, shorts before I started painting their bathrooms.
I paid a visit to Paul’s and found some nice work shorts. I grabbed a pair of 34s and, begrudgingly, a pair of 36s.
I have been wearing 34s for years. Having lost a lot of weight a couple times in my life, maintaining a 34-inch waistline has been a point of pride. However, I have been pushing the envelope the past couple years. Though I have kept my weight within a decent range (not my own, or the recommended, ideal), I seem to have been trending toward wearing 36-inch pants and shorts.
I don’t want to wear pants or shorts with a 36-inch waistline.
Ironically, though, I have a 36-inch waistline. The 34-inch pants and shorts I’ve been wearing are a bad measure of my actual waistline, especially since I like a relaxed fit. Measurements seem to differ by manufacturer and I seek 34s that fit — not those that are on the tight side and bruise my pride. But wrap a tape measure around my waist and I’m sure you’ll get 36 inches. That was the result when I bought slacks recently. I hung my head in shame after that — just as I did at Paul’s when I replaced the 34s on the rack and bought the 36s.
Ugh!
What am I getting at here? Well, that I’m heavier than I want to be, than I should be. I have been for a while. Technically, I’m overweight; supposedly, the ideal weight for a man of my height is around 160. I don’t think I should drop that low, but I do need to drop weight — and at least two inches from my waistline.
