You open the email that reads – ‘Photos from XYZ Networking Event now posted’. Then you click on the link and go ‘I look fat and awful. I really have to lose weight.’
Yes, you can start that healthy eating and exercise plan today. Or maybe not.
While looking after your health and weight is an ongoing investment that m prevent or minimise future health challenges, all of us want to look our best in public.
Here are my three tips to help entrepreneurial Baby Boomer women look slimmer instantly. Actually, women of any age can use these tips. Some cost time. Some cost money. All ask you to love and care for yourself.
Posture
Posture is the simplest and most effective way to look slimmer instantly. It requires no money but it does demand conscious thought and practice.
Posture was once an essential part of every young girl’s experience but it has gone out of fashion. It is easy to forget our posture. Those embarrassing-to-us photos from that networking event or any formal or casual photo are often more about our bad posture habits than anything else.
Go back to basics. Think more consciously of standing up straight, pulled up from the top of your head. Tummy in, lift your bust, square your shoulders, smile and breathe. Perception is important and good posture can take weight off instantly. Slouching can add kilos.
Here’s a simple exercise to practise. Stand against a wall with your bottom, shoulder blades and the back of your head touching it. Wriggle until you feel straight and comfortable. Now walk as many steps as you can in that position. Practise it as often as needed.
TIME = YES; COST = NO
Shapewear
While I believe good posture is essential, shapewear is voluntary. Shapewear has evolved from the old-fashioned girdle to products that instantly slim almost every part of your body. 99% of us will never have our photos published in the women’s magazines and be criticised for being too fat. So the prospect of wearing two pairs of shapewear (as some actresses do) to fit into our clothes for public, world-wide photos is not a concern.
It is your choice whether you wear shapewear regularly, on special occasions or not at all. They do work, especially when you buy shapewear that comes up to just under your bust as in the picture on the left. This slims your midriff area and that is what people will notice first. Then they openly comment on your perceived weight loss.
Other alternatives are clothes with shapewear built into them or materials that have a little bit of stretch in them. Both options instantly slim you.
TIME = NO; COST = YES
Cull Your Wardrobe
Yes, I know we all have clothes in our wardrobe for those slouchy, comfortable days. The problem comes when the majority of your wardrobe consists of comfortable, loose and baggy clothes.
Spend some time at least twice a year, preferably four times a year and ideally each time you buy something new, to cull your current wardrobe. Have a dress-up day in front of a mirror. Be ruthless and get rid of anything that makes you look bigger. If it makes you look and feel heavier, your posture will slouch and your self-confidence will sag.
Find your ideal hem lengths. Adjust everything to those lengths. The ideal length for you will make your legs look slimmer and by association, make all of you look slimmer. People also see you sitting, moving and standing still. Check your clothes from all these viewpoints. Some clothes look okay standing up but make you look heavier when you sit down.
TIME = YES; COST = YES (to replace some clothes)
Bonus Tip
A new haircut can also make you look slimmer instantly. It can lengthen or balance your face shape; both of which others notice. The natural connection is for the mind to put the result down to you having become slimmer.
Last Words
No matter what your current age and weight is each of these tips, practised regularly, will cause others to perceive you as slimmer than you are.
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