Do These Pants Make My Butt Look Big? A Day in Pictures [Giveaway!]

Props to Ice-T's wife for answering that question with confidence! But what up with the shoes, Coco?

I learned a long time ago to never ask my husband the infamous "Do I look fat in these pants?" question as the mere utterance makes him fake a heart attack. Which would be good entertainment, especially in restaurants, except that it scares the children. The problem, however, is that sometimes a girl just needs a straight answer to that question. I keep telling him that a simple, "Yes. Those pants are not flattering." will not send me running to my closet in tears but he doesn't believe me. It might have something to do with the crazed glint in my eye. Or the fact that he has found me crying in our closet before. Anyhow, that's what I've got girlfriends for. And a seven-year-old son apparently.

Let me back up.

Last Saturday, thanks to my sweet friend D (she of personal training fame) who watched my lil' Jelly Bean, I finally got to return to my beloved TurboKick! Be still my anxious heart!

That's me - the teeny little head in the back row (standing on my tip toes), 4th from the left in the Santa hat.

I'm baaaaack! And... shoeless! (Wha?)

See me literally jumping for joy? The cardio has returned to my life and it is sweet.

But after months of wearing the same two pairs of super stretchy and now stretched-out exercise pants, I was ready for some new gym togs. The universe heard my plea and answered in the form of new pants from Ivee Style. (That noise you just heard? all the Gym Buddies heaving a sigh of relief that they won't have to stare at my threadbare butt anymore.) The universe apparently does not approve of me running all my errands in my sweaty gym duds because Ivee specializes in performance gear that you can also hit the street in. Their gym clothes are more stylish than any of my Going Out clothes! That is if I still Went Out. Which I don't. But that's a problem for another day.

Which brings us to the following photo shoot, done by the aforementioned brutally honest 7-year-old. Are you ready? 'Cause I sure wasn't.

The pants, made out of soft bamboo, are as comfy as mac-n-cheese. Plus the piping made my legs look longer and my butt curvier, just as promised. Not so bad, right? Especially considering I'd been up all night with this:

She has a touch of the colic. And by "touch" I mean she cries as often as reality shows have spinoffs. Still, isn't she adorable even then?? (PS. You know you are a mom of 4 when instead of picking your baby up when she cries, you stop to take a picture first!)

But hopefully you didn't eat much of that mac-n-cheese because then there is the front view. While I can't speak for the entire Ivee line - modeled by catwalk models I now notice - these pants are not forgiving.


"How's it look? Did the picture turn out?" I asked my son. I mean he's a decent paparazzo but he is only 7 after all. He answered, "The picture looks great! But you look fat in those pants." And I said I wanted honesty. I shudder to think what he would have said had I picked the white ones.

As a point of comparison, here's the same shot of what I ended up actually wearing to the gym today:

Same body but minus the thigh bulge spotlights and the peanut gallery. So perhaps this is less of a criticism of Ivee and more of an indication that I don't know how to pick clothes that look good on me!

But enough about me - let's get YOU some new clothes! Ivee Style is offering one reader a 30$ gift code to spend on anything on their site. And no worries, if you don't have model perfect thighs either they've got darling tanks, sweaters, jackets and even tunics! To enter, head on over to their site and pick out your two favorite items then come back here and tell me what they are! Winner will be announced Monday Dec. 21!

So - anyone else actually expect a real answer to the "Do I look fat in these pants" question? How do you answer it - are you truthful? Anyone else as amazed by Coco's butt as I am?!

Update: Apparently Ivee's site is down. I e-mailed them so hopefully it will come back online soon but in the meantime, just leave me any comment and I'll count that as your entry for the contest!