As someone who has always been plus-sized, by now I should probably be used to the horror that is clothes shopping. But the truth is that you never really get used to it. The searching for clothes that aren't covered in horrific patterns, the millions of outfits you try on to find just one that fits right, the online shopping that you have to resort to because stores don't hold your size.

Clothes are not made for larger people. Just look at someone who's considered a "plus-size" model for Calvin Klein:

If that's plus-sized, what am I? Even this image from Sports Illustrated, which circulated around quite a bit when they came out with a plus-sized model, doesn't truly match the image of an overweight woman:

Yeah, it's closer than image one. But most clothing stores only go up to size 24. It's like if you're bigger than a size 24, you're not expected to dress in anything outside of T-shirts and jeans you order online because stores don't hold them in stock. There are all these articles and campaigns out there about how big is beautiful, and curves are OK to have, but the truth is that our society looks at big people and blames them for their body weight and shape.

And clothing stores seem to mirror that belief. At one point I was in a size 28-30. I could only buy jeans at Lane Bryant. Every once in awhile Kohl's might have an item I could fit in. Catherine's and Peter Harris Plus were fall-backs, though their clothes were typically strange or fit awkwardly. I couldn't just walk into Walmart and buy a nice blouse for work. I've lived for years in gym shorts and Big Men's T-shirts from Kmart, because at least they fit. The irony of my wardrobe is that I now often wear $80 Lane Bryant jeans and $7 T-shirts -- what other options do I have?

Not only do people in plus-sized clothing have limited options store-wise to find clothes, but everything we can find is expensive. I clip coupons like crazy and only shop during super sales because I'm a recently-graduated college student going into the Americorps for a year where I have to live off a stipend of slightly less than $12,000 a year. Luckily I have my parents supporting me; otherwise, how would I have clothes to wear for work? Food and rent would have sunk me, so $60 blouses would have put me deep in the red.

I just wish that our country would stop blaming overweight people for their bodies. Speaking from experience, trying to shove my body into clothes that were too small only discouraged me from following a healthy lifestyle. I felt bad about my body, so I ate poorly. I thought I could never be healthy, I could never lose the weight I had on me, and I was going to be stuck forever buying expensive clothes that looked like they were made for middle aged moms.

Today I wear a size 24 after a year of vigorously trying to eat healthy. I finally fall onto the higher end of plus-sized clothing, so I can shop at more stores than I used to be able to. But it makes me so angry that after losing 50 pounds, I just barely made it into plus-sized. Why can't we accommodate all body sizes? Why can't we actually show that we believe all bodies are beautiful, instead of just saying it?

The clothing industry in this country needs to open its eyes. If we want a healthier nation, we need to start teaching our citizens that big isn't bad - it's just big. And when you look in the mirror, you should feel beautiful no matter what size or shape you are. I hope you do feel beautiful. Because big or small, every person is beautifully unique.

I have a feeling I'll always have this struggle to find clothing, but I desperately hope one day we change the perception of what is "plus-sized." I wonder if my body image would have benefited from a true plus-sized model in magazines and clothing commercials. I'll never know now.

But maybe it'll happen for the next generation. Maybe we'll do better for them.