A few years ago, there was a mobile game that became insanely popular, called Flappy Bird. You tapped the screen and your little bird would flap and bounce up and down, flying across the screen and you did your best not to hit anything. I was recently thinking about my body as it stands right now, and I thought about my body being floppy, and I giggled a little to myself, realizing that there were some major similarities between myself and the game.

You see, I’ve always had a floppy body. It’s never been tight and toned. It’s never been flat. It’s never been stable. It has always bounced and jiggled all over the place when I ran, not that I used to do that very much. I couldn’t walk anywhere without my mid-section sloshing and swaying back and forth with each step.

Much like the game, I also had to try hard not to hit anything along the way. My body became a thing to manage with each step. I always had to watch my surroundings closely, making sure that my body didn’t touch anyone, or knock something off a shelf. These days, I don’t have to watch myself quite that much, but I definitely still have to control my body’s jiggling and floppy ways.

After losing 260+ pounds, believe it or not, I still have fat on my body, and it’s still more than I would like. I also have a lot of loose skin. I realized that as I was losing weight and getting into clothes that were smaller and smaller, I was having a harder time than ever before hiding and controlling all those floppy bits.

So now, I welcome you to a couple clothing items that will probably be in my wardrobe for the rest of my life.

Compression Garments.

I wear an Under Armour V-neck compression shirt underneath every top that I wear. I chose the V-neck because it’s often not visible at the collar level. Occasionally it is, but that’s just something I have to live with. I do my best to make sure it’s securely in place, and not visible.

The compression shirt helps make my body feel tight and secured in place. I don’t jiggle when I am in it, and it actually helps me feel like I can finally feel proud of my body and what I have accomplished.

It sucks in all of that loose fat and any of the loose skin that I have, and helps me to look good in my smaller clothing.

I also wear boxers that have some compression in them as well. I do this for 2 reasons. My thighs and my abdomen. Those are two places that I have not been happy with for quite some time (my whole life, like most of my body I suppose). I love that my boxers keep my thighs feeling tight, and helps them to look their best when I am sitting down. My thighs have always been something I hate when I sit and can stare down at them, seeing them fill up whatever seat I am in.

My abdomen has always been the largest part of my body, and I always wished that I could just cut it off completely. At this time in my life, I still wish that, but at least I finally have a way to control how it looks with my clothing.

People often debate the merits of compression clothing, and while I can’t speak to many of the purported benefits, I do know what they do for me. They let me see what my body really looks like underneath the excess skin and fat, which is something I couldn’t see before. I don’t have to pay attention to my body as much as I used to in day top day life, and I can run without feeling like Flappy Bird.

I have hated my body pretty much every day that I have been alive.
Compression clothing makes me hate my body less.

That’s good enough for me.