Well, the most obvious answer is that you don't have to like pants with a pleated front, you just have to wear them. More likely, however, you don't. When I lost about tweny or so pounds, I didn't bother changing pants size. You can probably achieve the same effect without losing weight, by buying larger pants. Being open to that is step 1. Step 2 is taking your gun and holster into the dressing room with the pants you are considering buying, and drop both into the pocket after you have the pants on. Unless you already have a lot of experience handling that gun-and-holster-and-pocket setup, you might consider keeping that gun unloaded.
What is important to know here is that there ARE still plenty of pants around that will easily swallow a J frame, even with a square butt, and a 2" K frame is also not out of the question. You just have to be ready to try them on, knowing that you will be disappointed at least half the time.
I have a faint recollection of an adolescent joke about getting slapped nine times out of ten, but it was definitely worth it. Anyone remember it?
Dockers used to be a brand that would carry well, but designs change all the time with no notice. Forget about brands and a) check the pocket depth, b) use the dressing room. They're out there.
P.S. I usually don't spend much money on pants, but I'm pretty sure that there is just as much variety in middlin' to expensive pants as there is in cheap.
