I don’t often talk about body image and weight because your body size has NOTHING to do with how good or how stylish you can look.
However, I also believe there is nothing wrong with highlighting the parts of your body that you feel happiest about and downplaying the parts you’re less happy with.
I offer several articles that offer guidelines on how to create a more flattering silhouette on this site.
- How to hide your belly with the right clothes
- How to determine body shape
- How to dress for the pear, apple, rectangle, hourglass, inverted triangle body type
- How to dress when you are petite, tall, curvy
- How to determine your vertical body type
These tend to be the most popular articles but can also attract the most criticism.
The most popular one, How to hide you belly, regularly gets comments on social media that this article is all wrong. How dare I make a suggestion that women should hide their belly? We should all be proud of all parts of our body!
And I agree with that.
I believe that we should accept our bodies as they are, love them and then dress them in however way we see fit.
On the other hand I know that this is not the reality for many women. Many of you don’t love your body and welcome the help I offer to make you feel better about your it. I don’t see anything wrong with that either.
The article on hiding your belly is such a good example of that. We can dress in a way that shows every lump and bump which will not create a flattering overall silhouette and streamlined outfit (in my opinion).
Or we can apply a few simple guidelines (non clinging fabrics, vertical lines, layering etc) and create a very pleasing silhoutte that doesn’t even show any lumps and bumps.
I know which option I would prefer (hint it’s the second one!).
For the best outfit, you want to create a flowing line, a beautiful silhouette and a proportioned outfit. You don’t want to be reminded of the parts of your body you don’t like as much. I really don’t see nothing wrong with ‘hiding’ them or at least dressing those parts in such a way that it makes us feel even better about ourself and our body.
Does this mean you don’t love your body?
No it doesn’t.
If I take myself as an example, I’m in the fortunate position that i can honestly say that I accept and love my body. I laccept my flat bum, dropping skin, the curved back, the crossed eyes. I love and accept all of it. Why? Because it’s the body I have. There is zero upside to feel bad about my body.
I honor this body and look after it well. And I dress it in such a way that the things I like best (legs) are highlighted and the things I don’t least (flat bum) are downplayed, even though I’m not obsessive about that at all.
So why am I telling you all this?
Here’s why.
#1 You can love and accept your body and still highlight and downplay the parts you like best or least
I don’t see anything wrong with making the body that you accept even more beautiful.
#2 Applying some of the dressing guidelines can make it easier to love your body
Let’s be honest here. The reason that my articles on downplaying the parts you don’t like and improving your appearance are so popular is because so many of you don’t accept and love your body. You’re grateful for all the help you can get to make your body look better.
And why not? If dressing in a smart way helps you to feel better about your body and yourself, why not do it?
#3 It’s crucial that you take good care of your body and dress it well, even if you don’t love your body and want to lose weight
One of the most common questions women ask me in my style course is if they should wait purchasing a new outfit until they’ve lost the weight. I always recommend not to wait. It is SO important to look good in your CURRENT body.
So many of you want to wait instead. You’re putting off buying clothes until you have lost a few pounds. Meanwhile you’re not looking good in your clothes because you haven’t bought anything in a while and can’t find anything you enjoy wearing.
That in turn leads you to feeling bad, which in turn can lead to emotional eating. It’s a vicious circle.
it is SO important to honor your current body, dress it well and love and accept it as it currently is.
#4 Feeling good about the way you look, helps you to lose weight
Of course, the next question I then get is: but if I love and accept my body, how will I be motivated to lose the weight?
The truth is: when you love your body, you want to look after it well. You want to do the right thing for it. Looking good and accepting your body will help you lose weight and stop emotional eating.
But hang on, before you said that we look good with any body size! Why do I need to lose weight?
You don’t.
You’re perfect the way you are.
Losing weight is always a personal choice.
But I know that so many of you want to lose weight. Many of you tell me that you’re overweight and that you like to get healthier. Or you simply want to fit into your favorite pants again.
And I respect that too. I also believe that it is important to stay as healthy as you possibly can. And access weight can have an adverse effect on your health.
I also feel that so many of your are so burdened by the extra weight, that you find it hard to focus on anything else.
I’m able to help
Until now I haven’t been able to help you much with weight loss. I don’t believe in diets and certainly don’t support any kind of pills.
But I do have the perfect solution for you now. I’ve developed a free training and a program where you will learn to both accept, love and respect your body AND implement strategies that will help you get your ideal weight. Over the last years I’ve trained as a life and weight loss coach and I’ve personally implemented some of the strategies to lose my menopausal weight gain.
The reason I want to teach you this, is that I see so many women being so unhappy with their body. And so unhappy with the menopausal weight gain or the fact that they can’t control their overeating. Sometimes so much so that it stops you from doing or focusing on anything else.
And that stops you from tapping into your fullest, truest potential.
Instead I want you to thrive.
I’d like to show you that you can have it all.
You can be happy with your current body AND dress it well AND get your ideal weight.
Stay tuned for the next article in this series where I will tell you more on how to do that. For now, you can already sign up for a FREE class I’m hosting soon on how to get the body you love. You can sign up here or click on the image below.
What are your struggles when It comes to loving your body or getting to your desired weight? Let us know in a comment below.
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