Ever find yourself in your bedroom or a dressing room determined to get into a pair of pants no matter how long it may take to get them on? If the label is showing a size that you have worn before, surely it will fit again because darn it, your will power is way bigger than your thighs, right?

In the case of finding clothes that fit and flatter, size doesn’t and shouldn’t matter.

Way too often a woman beats herself up because the size she used to wear or wants to be in is no longer an option. Rather than once again vowing you won’t eat much that day or actually use your gym membership, try not to focus on the size label, but instead, concentrate on how your clothes fit the body you have.

I am not trying to discourage women from healthy diets and exercise, but if it has been a while since you swore you would lose that post-baby fat or the extra weight you gained attending college, and you are close to attending your own child’s college graduation, isn’t it time to let go of the smaller size label and focus instead on properly fitting into the size you are now?

Imagine a man going into a store looking for a new pair of pants and discovering that the 34 waist he typically wears is a bit snug. He doesn’t storm out irritated or squeeze into the too-tight pants barely able to walk. Rather the angel of men’s clothing departments, also known as the tailor, descends upon him and his salesperson with his magic tape measure and turns the next size up into the perfect fitting pair of pants.

Ladies, you too can have your fit angel, except you have to seek him or her out in better stores or in your neighborhood. If the size 10 pants, top or dress is snug in some spots go up one size, and have a tailor take in the loose-fitting areas. Then you’ll have clothes that fit like they were made just for you.

Keep in mind that nobody gets a compliment based on the size printed on his or her clothing. Compliments and comfort occur from how great your clothes fit when tailored to your curves. You must know that being a size six does not equal happiness or success. but having clothes that fit leads to confidence and possibilities beyond your wildest dreams.

I have size 18 clients who are far better dressed than the Twenty-Somethings around them because they stopped waiting to lose weight before investing in properly fitting and flattering clothes.

Alert: Try not to have a distaste for the larger size labels. One of my clients once did. She so hated seeing what size she wore that she had cut out the size tag of EVERY single piece of clothing she owned so that when I got to her home, she had no idea what size she or any of her clothes were. What was also interesting is that she disliked almost all of her clothes and had not gone shopping for new ones for years. Despite a closet full of tagless pieces, she complained so much about never having anything to wear that her husband hired me to end her stress and her turning down invitations to go out.

After I showed her what clothes would look great on her and that size wasn’t what was causing her fear of figuring out what to wear. It was not knowing which style, color, and size of clothes were perfect for her. This was a very easy decision to make.

What size to select for her to try on was no longer the problem, but do yourself a favor, and think of size tags the same as those tags on mattresses with the warning label; Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law.