12 Easy Tips for How to Dress When You've Gained Weight Vs Lost Weight
Many women experience fluctuating weight for many different reasons. If you’ve experienced this, you know that sometimes you need to be creative with your clothes. Here are some tips on how to dress when you've gained weight or lost weight.
In this style guide, Giedre will show you a few clever tricks on how to dress when you’re in between sizes, so you look and feel beautiful, no matter your shape or size.
1. Extend a waistband
If you’ve gained some weight and your pants or skirts are starting to feel too tight, Giedre has a simple solution for you.
Run a small elastic band through the buttonhole of your pants, and insert the button through the loops of the elastic, instead of the buttonhole. This will give you more room around the waist, and feel much more comfortable to wear.
To hide the elastic, you can wear a long shirt or blazer. No one will be the wiser, and you can keep wearing your favorite pair of jeans!
2. Tighten a waistband
If you’ve lost weight, and your bottoms are loose, a belt is a good option to fix that problem.
However, if you don’t want to wear a belt with your outfit, or if you don’t have access to one, Giedre suggests using a ribbon or shoelace pulled through your back belt loops and tied behind your back to help tighten the waistband.
This is also a great trick for women who have wide hips and a narrow waist and have a hard time finding pants that fit properly.
Once again, use a shirt, blazer, or anything else that extends below your waist to hide the ribbon.
3. Loose tuck
A loose, silk camisole top is a fantastic, versatile piece - perfect for those with weight fluctuations. If you’ve recently gained weight, wear your silk cami tucked loosely to create an asymmetrical shape around your hips.
A layer on top of the camisole can camouflage excess weight around the midsection.
4. Twist and tuck
A simple trick to accentuate your waistline after losing weight is to gather the fabric of the camisole in the back, twist it, and tuck the twist into the back of your pants.
5. Button-down shirts
Even if you’ve gained some weight, you can still wear the button-down shirts that might be a little small on you. Button-down shirts are a great replacement for a blazer. You can still look and feel put together, without the restriction you might feel in a blazer.
Here, Giedre layered a button-down shirt over a cami top to create vertical lines that help create a taller, narrower appearance.
6. Layer and tuck
If you want the layered button-down look, but your shirt has become a bit too loose and bulky, tuck the tails of the shirt through the belt loops of your pants to create a wrap look that will stay securely in place.
Then tuck any excess fabric from the bottom of the shirt into your pants, and you’ve got a cute wraparound shirt that accentuates your waist.
7. Fine knit, loose tuck
A fine knit sweater is a great wardrobe staple for those with fluctuating weight.
At times when you are on the heavier end of your weight spectrum, it’s easy to style a fine knit sweater by using a loose tuck to create an asymmetrical shape around your hips, which helps camouflage the extra pounds.
8. Fine knit, tight tuck
If you’ve gone down in size, Giedre suggests wearing your sweater tucked tightly. You can further draw attention to your narrower midsection by rolling up your sleeves so they are at the same height as your waistband.
9. Oversized t-shirt
An oversized t-shirt is another versatile piece to include in your wardrobe. In addition to just wearing it as is, you can make a tail in the front of the shirt, use an elastic to hold it in place, and tuck it up into the bottom of your shirt.
This gives a more fitted look and a more sophisticated vibe.
10. Wrap skirt
Wrap skirts are essentially one large rectangle of fabric, which means they are one-size-fits-all. If you’re concerned about the fabric not wrapping completely around your body, you can layer a pencil skirt underneath for safety.
Or for a crisp, sophisticated look, you can style your wrap skirt with trousers underneath.
Of course, if you’ve gone down in size, you can simply wear your wrap skirt as is.
11. Layering over a knit dress
Because of the stretchiness of the material, a knit dress can fit a spectrum of sizes.
Giedre shows how you can layer a structured blazer and add a wide belt over a knit dress to camouflage the midsection. The padded shoulders also help give the illusion of a narrower waistline.
A longline vest and scarf are also great for adding vertical lines to your look, which elongates the body and hides the midsection.
12. Knit dress with a sash belt
If you’ve lost weight, and want to accentuate your curves, Giedre recommends a sash belt to create a more flattering shape.
How to dress when you’ve gained weight vs lost weight
Hopefully, the suggestions in this style guide will help you look and feel great, no matter your shape. Which tips would you like to try?
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I have half belts! You can get them online, just Google them. They attach to the side loop and go through the back loops to the other side loop. They are made of elastic with leather loop snaps. Look great. They are essentially a belt with out a buckle. I love them!!!!
Good ideas.