The more observant I choose to be, the more I realize that females of all ages face a growing problem. Too much attention has been placed on the size of a clothing item rather than how it fits.

The issue with pants is that sizes are numbers. While numbers are just numbers, one simple digit, or two, can affect self-esteem. Pant sizes are determined by hip and waist measurements. In the clothing industry, sizes fluctuate from brand to brand. I can be a size four in one brand of jeans and a six in another, which makes it unrealistic to have the goal of reaching a size two or zero.

Kevin Kadish and Meghan Trainor said it best in All About That Bass. Released June 2014, the song contains the lyrics: “It’s pretty clear, I ain’t no size two” and “Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top.”

Don’t blame your body for being bigger than a certain size. In fact do not blame anything or anyone. Buy different pants.

Please do not be that person who squeezes into a pair of pants just to say size two fits. More women would rather wear something based on the size as apposed to how flattering it looks. Chances are if it’s more than a little snug, it does not look good.

Get over the number printed on the tag and wear something that is not causing you to have a muffin top or some other uncomfortable result. Time will be saved as well if you can slip into your pants instead of lying on the floor just to be able to button them. Ladies, you know what I am referring to.

After graduating high school I cleaned out 15 pairs of jeans that required me to “squeeze” into them. I had not gained a noticeable amount of weight; my body was just changing. I chose to alter my clothes instead of my body. Those jeans would have fit, but the desire to be comfortable outweighed the desire to own size two and three pants.

Flash forward to a month later at a shopping trip with a family member. At a fairly popular store, I tried on a few pairs of shorts. One pair was a size six. I went to purchase the shorts, because they did not fit too tight and were of modest length. I received a comment from the family member I was with: “There is no way you are a size six.”

Well, I was a size six, and I still am. The temptation to cut the tags out of my clothes gets stronger the older I get, especially since I am living in a sorority house.

Living with more than 30 college women, all under the same roof, has taught me how insecure people can be. On a daily basis I hear, “Does this make me look fat?” And being honest, sometimes the article of clothing is the culprit behind making her look bigger. But who wants to admit they think so?

Women of every size should not be concerned, although I know they are, about what size is placed on a particular item of clothing. To all my sorority sisters, fellow Baker women and all women in general, what you think might be your size is potentially not, so wear clothes that fit you.