My clothes are too tight. I know my clothes are too tight. If “What Not To Wear” entered our community in search of their next victim, it would probably be me.

Why do people wear too tight clothes? If you are my age and the clothes are too tight people talk about you behind your back. I know they are saying things like “She seems to be wearing her rolls.” Or “Did she jump off the dresser to get into those jeans?” People are quick to judge. They don’t understand.

Cute young people wear too tight clothes because they want to show off their cute, young figure. Because of that many people think that little old people like me think I have a figure and I’m trying to show off the figure I don’t have. That absolutely is not the case.

We need to have more compassion for those who wear too tight clothes. The problem is not showing off the figure you don’t have. The problem is not letting go.

Two years ago when I broke my ankle I lost 20 pounds. You would think that sitting on the couch for two months and letting my ankle mend would add to the weight.

However, I had many people taking care of me, and they fed me healthy food. None of the doughnuts that I would stuff in my mouth at coffee break entered my home very often. I could not snack because I could not get to the refrigerator. The broken-ankle diet really worked; although, I would not recommend trying the broken-ankle diet.

When I recovered I did not have the too-tight-clothes syndrome. I had the too-loose-falling-off-clothes syndrome. Of course, that meant a few shopping trips to replenish my wardrobe. You know how we all love shopping, well, maybe not the men.

I started feeding myself again. Gradually my clothes seemed to get tighter. I don’t get on the scale because who needs scales when we have clothes to judge our weight. I was feeding myself again. My favorite form of food is doughnuts.

Do you know it is harder to shop for clothes when you have to buy a bigger size? I can’t find anything I like. Of course, it is just the avoidance of the fact that I have gained weight. There is also the cost of replenishing my wardrobe. I only have about 20 pounds to lose. How hard can that be? I won’t buy new clothes; I will just let them be a little tight or a lot tight until I lose the weight.

I joined a gym. I love it, when I workout at the gym. The key word is workout. I always seem to be too busy to transport myself across the street from my job to workout. There are too many doughnuts between the door and myself! Once I get there I feel so good actually doing something that it will help me reach my goal. Unfortunately I do not have too hard of a time convincing myself that I am too tired to exercise.

I love yoga. I have a room set up with my mat and music. It is very serene. The problem I have is that I have to actually walk up the stairs away from my television to the serenity and peacefulness of a yoga routine.

As you may have already guessed from my article, I love doughnuts. My solution to balancing my doughnut routine at home is to freeze the doughnut holes. I then have to thaw them out one at a time to eat one. Of course, it is just as easy to thaw them out five at a time.

The bottom line is: Do not judge anyone by their tight clothes. Well, unless they have the to-die-for figure that we all want, and then we can all be jealous. Don’t judge us because we are hoping those same clothes will fit us better soon, as soon as they do not make doughnuts anymore. As soon as there are no television broadcasts anymore. And our clothes will fit us better as soon as …?

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send e-mail at thecolumn@bevcomm.net.