25 Mar Dressing for Weight Gain

It happened gradually. Well, gradually as in a year or two. First it was a snug fit here. Then a ripped zipper there. I was gaining weight.

Before I get into this post, I want to make a few things clear: gaining weight isn’t a horrible thing. I’m also not fishing for compliments. But this post is about something real. A question that many women can face. How do you dress when you find yourself suddenly gaining weight and feeling less than comfortable in your existing clothes?

I can honestly answer that because it’s been happening to me for the past year or so. Again, I’m not seeking anyone to tell me, “Patrice, what are you talking about, you look great!!!” or “girl, stop. You’re only a size 8.”

This has nothing to do with size but more so how to dress your body when your body starts to change. And as I’ve noticed the number on the scale creep up a bit {I don’t even own an actual scale, I just step on one at Target when I’m there shopping for other stuff!} due to age but also horrible habits I’ve developed, I can tell you one thing.

Well, I guess there are really two things.

First, stop making yourself feel bad. If you know you just don’t fit certain clothes any longer, toss them or maybe place them in the back of your closet at best. Because the alternative is continuing to try to squeeze into them {jumping, squatting and struggling with zippers!} and the result can make you feel pretty crappy.

I have a vintage dress I absolutely adore and I tried it on when I was extremely bloated {weight gain + PMS} and guess what happened? I broke the zipper. And then guess what happened after that? I felt like sad because this garment I loved so much is now a reminder that my body doesn’t look the way she used to.

After popping the zipper, I had a bit of a pep talk with myself and it went something like, “this dress just isn’t working for you right now, let’s find what does.” So instead of trying to force my body to fit, I went through my closet for clothes that felt amazing and in my opinion, looked amazing on me.

You see the vintage dress above? That’s when I thrifted the vintage dress from Fox & Fawn almost three years ago. I had some wiggle room in it. Now you see it below? Same dress. I still adore it, but yeah, it has a bit less give. If the day ever comes when I can’t comfortably wear it, it’s going into the donation pile so it can bring someone else major joy.

One of the worst things anyone of any size can do is try to fit into something that just doesn’t work. Besides the tugging and pulling of the material, can you really look all that confident in something when you know it’s straight struggle-ville to even get it on?

Right now I’m carrying extra weight in my mid section, so to make me feel more comfortable, I love a dress with ruching {like the thrifted one below}. The dress is still sleek and sexy but camouflages an area I’m not 100 percent comfortable with right now.

And beyond camouflaging anything, my most important suggestion for dressing when you’ve gained weight is to highlight your favorite feature.

For me, that means my legs. I’m pretty short, but I’ve got strong, sturdy legs that I love. So I can’t resist a short dress or a dress and heels that really play up my favorite feature. And the irony is, years ago I used to hate my short legs.

The bottom line: bodies change. And that’s not a bad thing. But the key is to always do what works for you and makes you feel amazing, instead of stuffing yourself into a mold that just doesn’t fit.