If you wake up one morning and think to yourself, ‘where has my waist disappeared to and what has happened to my belly?’, this is for you.
You are not alone! This very thing happened to me when I hit perimenopause.
One day I was feeling good about my body and the next day I had an extra 3 inches around my belly! Suddenly the clothes that I used to feel fabulous in didn’t fit or flatter my changed body.
So I set out to figure out what was happening to my body and how I could fix it.
I binge watched videos from various menopause experts. Although there are varying opinions on some things, there are 3 things that they all agree will shift the belly fat:
1. You have to increase your protein levels.
2. You have to do some serious weight training.
3. HRT is not as scary or dangerous as we used to think.
Of all the experts that I learned from, my favorites are Dr Mary Claire Haver and Dr Sharon Malone on balancing your hormones and Dr Stacy Sims on diet and exercise.
In the process, I also realized that I had to determine, what are the things I can change and what are the things I can’t change.
I cannot change the fact that I have to go through perimenopause and menopause, but I can change how I choose to go through it. I can make changes to my diet and exercise routine AND I can choose the clothes I wear while going through this process.
Now while you may think that the clothing you wear is not as important as diet and exercise, I realized that it’s not only super important, but that it can fundamentally change the way you feel about your body as you navigate these changes.
How do you feel when you go to get dressed in the morning and nothing fits? How does it feel when you put on your go-to outfits and they no longer flatter your body?….. Exactly!
It’s very hard to go out into the world and do all the things we need to do when we don’t feel confident in our own bodies.
I realized that by choosing to wear clothing that looks good on the body I have today, it can make it so much easier to feel confident while navigating these changes.
I felt this very acutely when perimenopause hit and I was going on QVC with 7 cameras catching me at all angles.
Before I had figured out what was working for my changed body, I felt so self-conscious, but once I figured out which styles and fabrics were working, I felt like a million bucks AND I still had the extra 3 inches on my belly.
What I also discovered as that when I figured out what what flattered my new shape, I wasn’t so obsessed about it and I started to see some good changes.
My clients have said the same. I have heard countless stories of women who were trying to loose weight and held off on buying new clothes till they got to ‘their goal weight’. But when they decided to get a few things that flatter the shape they have now, they lost the weight so quickly because they were feeling better about themselves in the process. This makes making the necessary lifestyle changes easier because they were operating from a place of self love.
Now you may be thinking, okey, so what is the right clothing for the body I have today?
Since most of us are trying to dress to disguise our bellies, here are 3 of my top tips to doing just that.
1. Don’t try to cover it up, detract attention from it. This is one of the hardest things for us to learn. Trying to cover up your belly often just makes you look big everywhere. Instead detract attention away from your belly by defining your waist.
You can do this in various ways:
l Wear a wide belt slightly higher than your natural waist. Most women belt incorrectly. They wear it too low. Wear a wide belt almost above your natural waist. This will make your waist appear smaller and de-emphasize your tummy.
l Wear clothing that nips the waist. A fitted vest or jacket is an easy way to do this. It gives more shape to your shapeless items, draws the eye down the body and away from across your belly.
2. Prints in shapely clothing are your best friends. Many women think that prints make them look bigger. Prints only make you look bigger when you are wearing them in shapeless garments. Shapely doesn’t have to be tight, it just has to have some shape.
3.If you are busty, check that you are wearing the right bra. This can make a HUGE difference. If your girls are hanging too low, it makes your tummy and your girls look like one. If you wear a bra that gives you the right support, it can take inches off your look and it gives you a waist.
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This article was published on Kuel Life https://kuellife.com/4-smart-wardrobe-fixes-when-nothing-fits-in-menopause/