This article was originally posted 6/28/18. Within about five hours I got a phone call from the manager of our local Lululemon store. She assured me their leggings should NOT be doing what I describe here, and invited me to come back and be properly fitted. So I did, and Wow. So impressed with both the company’s customer service and the product. You can click here to read my follow-up, but first, here’s the original post that led to my recent Lululemon education:

Let’s start this by saying I don’t actually consider myself “fat.” I acknowledge that I do actually have fat accumulated in places I’d rather it not, but in no way is this a “Woe is me I’m fat,” kind of post. It actually started as a celebratory post, because I wanted to reward myself for keeping up with the gym and seeing some results, so I went to make my very first visit to the Lululemon store and indulge myself with some fancy expensive leggings. It kind of goes downhill from there.

The Lululemon shop has a wall of leggings like GAP has a wall of jeans. I tried not to get overwhelmed reading the descriptions and just decided to start picking styles out based on their pattern. The sales person must have noticed my extended staring and mumbling and came over to offer much needed help. She suggested I try the famous “Wunder Under” in a size 6, so I grabbed several in that size, plus one up and one down.

She mentioned the pants were designed to feel like second skin. I struggled in vain with the size 4, then the 6 and finally managed to get on an 8. Apparently I am only a fan of my current skin, because once I finally got a pair on, they felt extremely tight and kind of invasive. Like, I don’t want leggings all up in my bits like that. I probably should have tried on a 10, but I had worked so hard to come down from a 10/12 that I just couldn’t do it. I also was not leaving there without leggings and felt like maybe I needed to just get used to the fit, so I purchased the 8, plus a cute top to match and planned to give them a test run at the gym the next day.

I have to say, Wunder Under is pretty accurate. Every time I wear them, I wonder how they keep ending up under my belly. Just the slightest lean forward and it’s flop, flip, belly squish right out the top and over. It’s not cute. I’m not sure if they are too small, or if I am just too long waisted and the top part is hitting me in a wierd spot, but it is incredibly frustrating to have my pants flop down and accentuate the very part I’m trying to work off.

So if I stand up straight, no bending, the leggings actually look really good and I’ve actually gotten compliments on them, which is probably way I keep squeezing my butt into them every so often. Until the first belly flop and then I’m like Ohhhhhh yeah…that’s why I don’t wear these a lot. I always feel like I’m doing really good at the gym thing until I wear those out the door.

So what’s your experience? Are you a Lululemon fan? If not, what’s your go-to leggings brand?