My pants don't work anymore

Well, they work, as in they cover up my legs and butt -- but I put on a pair this morning that I probably haven't worn in at least a few weeks that have the extra "panel" in the tummy part to allegedly help hold your gut in a bit.  The last time I put them on, the panel was snug as I pulled the pants up over my hips, and I could definitely feel it doing its job and snugging up against my tummy.

Today, however, the panel isn't doing anything.  The pants slid pretty easily up over my hips, and they were even a bit loose around my waist.  Which means the panel was nothing more than an extra piece of fabric.

To add to this, there was a bra I bought less than a month ago in a smaller size (I needed one that can convert to strapless for a wedding I'm going to be in on October 19th and found a nice one at Wal-Mart -- decent price since I won't be in it forever).  The first couple days I wore it, it was tight enough that the dang thing cut into my sides and left marks.  Here I am just a few weeks later, and I'm already using the second set of eye-hooks (in fairness, the distance between the loosest and the next set of eye-hooks is relatively small, about a half inch).  Luckily I didn't spend much for it, which was the plan.

I keep getting more and more surprised by the amount of change I see in such short periods of time.