American plus size clothing usually runs in sizes 10 and above. In most clothing brands, I range from a size 8 to a 14. But that’s the thing, there is never any consistency in what I am wearing. I have clothes ranging from small to extra large and they fit exactly the same.

If I want to go somewhere new to buy a new dress or some jeans, I have to take three different sizes into the fitting room to see what will actually work. It is ridiculous that there isn’t a better system for this, but it is something all girls have to deal with.

This is a problem many girls have when it comes to clothes shopping. Unlike men’s clothing, women’s sizes are not based on inches, so what is a size 10 at one place might be a 12 at another. In some stores, I can shop in the regular clothing section, but in others, I have to go to the plus sized area.

When I go shopping, I really have no idea what to expect. It could be a great day where I can find clothes I want to buy with no issues, or I could go to five different stores and have nothing fit me the way I want it to.

There are limited stores I can reliably order the same size in every single time. Stores like American Eagle and Urban Outfitters are good about having size guides in store and on their websites, which can be extremely helpful, making them my go to stores.

After I got a new job, I had to purchase new khaki shorts for my uniform. I was really dreading it because the last time I wore khaki was in third grade, and I always hated the way they made me look. Going into shopping for these shorts I already had a bad attitude, and it only got worse.

I decided the best option was to go with something affordable that would last long enough to get me through the rest of the summer and fall, so I went to Old Navy. It was tax free weekend, so it was extremely busy, but the store was well-stocked and the employees were everywhere helping out.

I walked over to the area that was set up with all of the shorts and looked for the khakis. Out of the three stacks I looked through, there were no sizes that fit me. The sizes they had on the floor were 00 to 6, so I asked an employee if they had any more in the back, and she said they did. When she came back, she said she the biggest size she found was also a 6, and there were also none in my size available online. I had the same kind of luck at The Gap.

When days like that happen, it is hard not to get discouraged. I felt like if I was too large to find clothes that fit in a mainstream store, where would I find anything else without spending way too much money? The whole process was extremely frustrating, but sadly, not unusual for me.

In the end, I usually let go of my hurt feelings pretty quickly because if I spent too much time moping around about clothes not fitting me right, I’d never get to spend as much time shopping as I would like. My size is a number that doesn’t matter to me, and I will never let it define me.