Last week I came across an influencer who said that your body shape stays the same when you age and/or gain weight. I immediately thought to myself that’s not what happened to me!
In fact, over the years of working with women of all shapes and sizes only a very small percent have shared that their body stayed the same. Most of the women I work with experienced a change in their body shape when they:
- gained weight
- lost weight
- had babies
- hit perimenopause
- hit menopause
In my experience, your body shape can change even when women lost weight. Their body shape didn’t go back the same as it was pre weight gain so the items they were holding onto still didn’t work for them.
I have found that as we age and/or gain weight, we tend to buy clothes that are oversized and too big because we want to hide everything as our body shape changes. In reality, instead of hiding it’s actually better to give your body proportion and buy clothes that fit. I know it may seem counterintuitive, but when you give your body proportion and shape you actually look smaller, no matter what your body shape is.
After working together, many clients have shared with me that friends and colleagues often ask them if they’ve lost weight. While my clients didn’t lose weight they appeared smaller and thinner because they were wearing clothes that fit better so it appeared that they lost weight. That’s the magic of wearing clothes that fit.
Depending on your height and body shape think about your body in one third and two third proportions. For me, the top half is my one third and my bottom half is my two thirds so I am always sure to define where my waist is so that I have proportion and definition, otherwise I look like a blob. Some clients that have long torsos and short legs so they may find the opposite proportion. One simple tricks to add proportion to your body is to use a front tuck or side tuck with your shirt or be sure that you top hits above your crotch area.
My message for you this week is that it doesn’t matter what your body shape is, or how your body shape has changed, you don’t need to hide. No matter what your body shape is you can find clothes that look good, feel good, and give you confidence so you can step into your brilliance. If you need help finding your body shape take my body shape quiz here.