Welcome to Gaia! ::

I have been there too, and I know how you feel. It's even worse if you're 100 pounds overweight (which I used to be) and trying to find exercise gear. There are places to get it, but they're very rare. I get all of mine from http://www.ladiesonlysports.com which has a section of plus sized exercise gear. Not only do they go up to size Large, they go up to XL, 2XL, 3XL... some of their stuff goes all the way up to size 8XL! ANYONE can wear these things. They're great. Especially the Enell sports bra. Oprah uses that one, and if it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me.

Honestly, though, I do know how embarrassing it can be. It's because we think "I'm too fat to shop in normal stores." What we should be thinking is, "Over 60% of people in the US and Canada are my size. 'Normal' sizes ARE my size, so if this store doesn't have them, they're losing what should be more than half of their money in sales to people my size." Then, armed with the knowledge that we are the majority, walk up to the store manager and say, "You know, this store is only catering to 40% of the population, and could be making a lot more money if it stocked larger sizes. When do you think you'll have size 16 available?" Don't make it seem like it's a failing on your part, that they don't have your size. It's their failure, not yours.

The fact that I can't look good in some clothing only motivates me to keep going and to work harder. You're not alone. I've had many days where I feel I'm too fat because there's so many pretty things to wear that even though it says my size, it wont look nice and all that...so I vent it during cardio thinking "I can and WILL make myself fit into that clothing!" Let's see...the last time I vented on cardio I ended up burning like...800 calories? XD.

I love http://www.torrid.com, though I always have to find shirts to go under the shirts from Torrid because the Torrid shirts show far more of me than I want to share with the world. I'm also fond of http://www.lanebryant.com and http://www.shukronline.com -- Lane Bryant for the shirts and Shukr for the skirts and scarves. For workout gear, you can't beat http://www.ladiesonlysports.com which has sizes from 00 to 4XL in most of their plus-size things, and up to 8XL in some of their things. I've got friends for whom that is a real concern, and they can all shop there.

Oh, and for specific advice: Their Enell Sports Bra at Ladies Only Sports is INCREDIBLE. Oprah uses it, and so does Drew Barrymore, and so do I. All of these things should indicate just how much support they offer. They're amazing.