Fashion Friday: Slimpressions Shapewear

When I started Beauty and The Bypass, I wanted the blog to be more than strictly weight loss surgery topics. The rapid weight loss tapers off after a while, you get into a groove with your eating habits, and there’s not a lot of news to share.

I’ve spent a lot of time on the BYPASS part of Beauty and the Bypass, but how about some BEAUTY?

In an effort to keep up on new posts, I decided to start a “Fashion Friday” series. Now that I’m able to shop in “normal” stores again, I’m discovering a lot about my fashion sense, what styles look good on me, and what things I want to work hard to fit into.

For today, I want to talk about Slimpressions Shapewear.

There are a lot of topics that we talk about in Bariatric Bad Girls Club: food, medications, relationships, how our bodies are changing, etc. A lot of people lose enough weight after weight loss surgery that their excess skin sags to the point of needing plastic surgery. So we talk about surgery options….and non-surgery options, which include girdles and shapewear.

I’ve tried my fair share of waist nippers, Spanx, and other things you can wear to suck your gut in. But I’ve found the best ever in Slimpressions. I heard about them soon after surgery, but had a hard time justifying the cost when I didn’t have a lot of excess skin to deal with. Now that my body is saggy and deflated, shapewear is a must. I finally purchased my first Slimpressions garment at the Obesity Help conference in Atlanta because they were offering a great discount.

One of the hardest things to find in a compression garment is coverage on the arms, so I opted for the “Have Nots,” which gives compression down to the elbow, but does not squish “the girls.” I had a tough time getting used to stepping into the shaper and pulling it up over my body, since I’m used to putting on shapers over my head. But once it’s on, it stays in place (it ends in the top picture where my fingers end) and it doesn’t feel like you’re in a torture device. You can breathe freely, and your “batwings” won’t flap in the breeze.

See how nicely it sucks me in and smooths out my lumps and bumps? I wish there was a little more compression for my “muffin top,” and I occasionally wear a “waist nipper” over it when I want to be sucked in tight. When I look at myself in this picture, I don’t feel like I look like I weight 253 pounds in it.

Slimpressions had a Cyber Monday sale last week with everything 40% off, and I ordered “The Haves” shaper. I like how the “Have Nots”  don’t crush down my chest, and I can wear any bra that I want (and have my boobs look the way I want them to), but I usually wear a HalfTee or Shade WonderTee. I’ll report later on how “The Haves” Slimpressions shaper looks after I’ve worn it a few times. Until then, I’ll be rocking the “Have Nots” with a HalfTee, which means I have to take off at least 5 layers of clothing when I undress.