There's no such thing as an objective opinion on this kind of question. I play jazz flute, and my first teacher told me, "don't ask your audience if it was good, play for yourself - and your audience will find you". It's important for me to practice and to be able to play my music with conviction, but I don't have to prove that I'm as good as Matt Eakle or Hubert Laws. In fact, I don't even be all that good. If I'm playing with someone else, and we both enjoy it, that's great.
Wear clothes that show that you care about yourself and that you'd like to look nice for your husband, exercise to make yourself feel better, take off weight if you can and make sure you appreciate for yourself every bit of progress you make.
But there are fat, ugly women who carry themselves with conviction, listen well, make good contact, and are very attractive indeed even though they will never find their pictures on magazines. The most attractive thing about you is that you are you, so be the most you that you can!
Quote: If I flirt with the guy in line at the post office, how do I know if his reaction isn't due to being gay, in love, super-friendly, HD and miserable etc.?
Well, if it's me, the last three conditions usually apply. I'm thoroughly in love with my wife as well as being HD and miserable, but I'm also a super-friendly guy. And I defy you to accurately interpret all that while standing in line at the post office. I'm quite confident I'm not gay, so that simplifies interpretation somewhat. But please don't flirt with me, it will only make me more miserable...
Quote: My husband is away on business this week, so I bought a new nightgown yesterday for when he returns. But, I felt kind of "schizo" when I tried it on again this morning. One second I would think it looked good and the next second I was regretting having read Dave's post...
It's the image you project that matters most. If you have to wait for someone else to pass a judgement on you so that you can know whether you are pulling it off successfully, and you are then willing to go along with this judgement...that's not going to work out well.
