Dressing Room Danger: Are You Dressing Around Your Fat

Is Fat Your Fashion Designer?

This picture really captures the feeling of how fat really feels. Shoving your big butt in jeans and trying to zip up pants you know good and well did not shrink. And, how about squatting down a few times to stretch out your jeans so they don’t look like you painted them on and choosing a shirt that doesn’t show your muffin top and back fat? Sound a little too familiar?

Do You Dress Around Your Fat?
We often choose clothing that masks our problem areas instead of actually choosing to fix the problem. Not to say some of us are actually working on it, however, I do think some of us continue to allow our fat to determine our dress code, which allows more room for error and totally sets us up for failure.

What if you couldn’t buy new “fat clothes”. What if you had to wear skin tight clothing that you struggled to squeeze into every day. Then, every time you looked in the mirror you saw every exposed fold and bump. How much more motivated would you be to get rid of the junk in your trunk? I don’t know about you, but that constant uncomfortable reminder would surely definitely motivate me!

What if you had to wear a bikini to work every day. Or worse, you were forced to wear jeans that used to fit with no shirt, exposing the rolls that fold over your waistband. Eeeeek!! I bet you’d RUN to the gym.

I believe, many people are actually enabling weight gain by continuing to buy “fat clothes” to hide their weaknesses so they don’t have to actually work on them. Celebs like Kirstie Alley have been known to hit tabloids dressed wearing tents dresses, huge ponchos and a million layers. Do you think that was her taste in clothing? No way! If she was at her goal weight, you know good and well she’d be kickin’ some fitted clothes ready for the runway.

Fat doesn’t go away on it’s own. The problem typically gets worse, not better – so the clothes you are buying now to hide  your small flaws may one day become your skinny clothes that you store away because they no longer fit too. Then, suddenly you are wearing clothing 3 sizes bigger than you ever dreamed you’d be wearing, continuing to run from the inevitable.

Uncomfortable Stems Change
Sometimes you have to be uncomfortable to change. Whether it’s changing jobs, cities or relationships, being uncomfortable is not a bad thing –  it can be exactly what you need. Maybe it’s time to allow yourself to be a little uncomfortable for a change. Your uncomfortable clothes can motivated to fix it.

If your clothes aren’t fitting as good as they used to, and you really want to lose the weight and get (and stay) healthy, here are a few tips to change how you react to your fat.

5 Fat Fixes

1. Run to the gym, don’t run to the mall. If you are sick and tired of your clothes not looking good on you, don’t go for the quick shopping fix. Do it right. Get rid of the problem, don’t just hide it.

2. Purposely buy clothes that are just a hair small, instead of choosing stuff that’s lose & comfy. That will set you up for remaining that same size and getting comfortable at that weight. I’m not saying wear it if it looks ridiculous (like this chick! OMG!), but I am saying it’s good to have goals and to set yourself up for success, not failure. Many times our goals are not tangible – they’re just a number on a scale or a feeling you want to have. Fitting in a piece of clothing is a good tangible goal to reach for.

3. Use your skinny clothes as a reality check. As our waist grows, so does our imagination. We forget just how small we used to be and sometimes we just need a reality check. Always have a pair of your skinny jeans or shorts on standby so you can try them on and be reminded of your goal.

4. Don’t hide from the camera. Many people don’t like their picture taken when they are heavy. A photo can speak a thousand words – and a few of choice words at that, telling you what you need to hear to get your butt in the gym. I will never forget the time I saw my first fat picture. It was a much needed reality check to help me stop my destructive cycle. Plus, just because you dodge a picture, doesn’t mean you dodge eyeballs – people still see what you look like, picture or not. How silly are we?!

5. Hang out with fit peeps. When someone has a problem, there’s nothing worse than to hang out with other people who have the same problem too. Sure, it’s hard to be the “fat one” in a fit group, but spending time with fit friends is healthy. Although you may struggle with your self esteem at first, you will be held accountable just by being reminded how healthy people live. If you want to feel good about yourself, hang out with someone heavier than you – but don’t expect to lose weight.

Have a fat clothes fit tips? Share your dress code & weight loss tricks below!