Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your personal trainer in Amarillo. Have you noticed how many people are out and about wearing things like workout leggings, yoga pants, running shorts, etc.? Regular pants, dresses, and other fashion wear has gone to the wayside while lounging athletic wear is front and center for all your wardrobe needs. Being nice and comfortable sounds great, doesn’t it? Makes you feel really dressed up whenever you wear your jeans out grocery shopping. Unfortunately, those comfy clothes are actually killing off your results, if you’re working out. If you haven’t been working out and you’re still pulling the spandex from your closet, it is causing you become more and more unhealthy. Today we are taking a look at this and more. If you have questions about today’s blog or would like get results worthy of a wardrobe upgrade, give us a call: 806-322-3188.
When we onboard new people at Custom Fitness, we always ask them for their pant size. More often than not they answer small, medium, large, extra-large. Health field professionals wear scrubs all the time. That may be their extent attire collection. If you only wear clothes with a drawstring or clothes that are elastic, it is hard to notice changes happening on your body. Instead, clothing manufacturers keep pumping out more spandex garments like Spanx that people have to double up on using to keep from bulging out of their already elastic clothes.
If you aren’t working out, trying to lose weight, get healthier, and gain muscle, there is a psychological event that happens when you put on stretchy things. Mentally and subconsciously, when you don’t feel a pressure against your waistband, then you ignore the significance of eating extra calories and your waist is increasing in size. There’s nothing reminding you that you starting to gain. You just keep eating and your pants keep stretching.
When you’re actually on track towards your goals, doing everything you can such as eating well, exercising enough, but you’re wearing solely activewear, you won’t feel the results. At Custom Fitness, we do a progress analysis every 4 weeks. We check in on your physical progress by seeing if you are getting stronger and if your endurance is increasing. We also check in with your metrics; looking at which way your inches are moving, seeing if your body fat is headed in the right direction, and if you weight is going the way you wanted. We take a comprehensive look at you and compare it with the goals you set for yourself. I feel a lot of sympathy for people who come to me feeling like they are doing everything right, but they aren’t seeing the results. Well, it may be because they are hanging out in loungewear all the time. The scales lie to us, if you didn’t know that already. You can get on 3 different of the same brand scales side by side and your weight will vary. The scale is not a good standard to live by. How you look and feel is your best indication of your progress. Some people really like to have a goal outfit at the front of their closet. A pair of pants, a top, or a skirt that fits a little too snug that they try on every few weeks. Over the months, you will see how the once tight waistband is now lose and you can actually sit, move, maybe even dance in the goal outfit. The results are there!
The problem is if you are wearing a size Medium elastic band pant, you will feel them stretch across your waist, but you won’t find them hanging off of you until you’ve completed weeks if not months of hard work. Humans need to know they are making strides towards their goals regularly (as in every 5-7 days we like to see something change). We do not have the mental patience to wait months upon months to finally see the elastic loosen. Wearing clothes that don’t really fit you well such as jeans that don’t fit you well then you see okay made progress and it’s time to move down and size now the downside of that is the fact you have to go buy new pants but the upside is you actually get to feel successful about the things that you’ve been doing. When you wear clothes that are constantly sucked in against your skin, your brain can’t measure your progress. You can’t feel your progress. Then, your stuck feeling frustrated, unsure if what you are doing is actually working, causing you to eventually give up and return to square one.
What you wear is important. We talked before about giving yourself an ego boost and changing the way people interact with you, by wearing clothes that fit. Having tailored clothes will allow you and others to see the results you are putting so much effort into earning. Please know that I am not encouraging clothes are skin tight. I am talking about clothes that fit your body appropriately.
What should you keep in your wardrobe when you’re trying to lose weight? One or two pairs of stretchy pants is plenty for your workouts. Maybe a pair of leggings or yoga pants are appropriate if you’re doing a lot of flexibility work. Keep the staples in your closet for when you go out in public. I have been a personal trainer in Amarillo for a long time and I have had clients lose, gain, and everything in between during their journeys. I can confidently tell you that you will be changing sizes with regularity. Don’t go out and purchase a whole new wardrobe as soon as you go down a size. Instead, update what you have with things like A new pair of jeans, or A new jacket. Look for items that you can mix and match with other options until you stabilize your new body shape.
We have several clients who have lost several sizes in a short amount of time and they have friends, colleagues and family members who are also losing so they set up a clothing swap. Consignment shops are another great consideration if you’re not looking to drop a ton of cast. They carry big name brands that are trendy at a huge discount. That’s a great option if you know you are still losing and you know you’ll have to turn right back around and sell them off when you go down another size. Selling your old clothes can be very lucrative when upgrading your closet is on the horizon.
Remember that if there are clothes in your closet that don’t fit you anymore, get rid of them. Keeping them around only gives your brain an excuse that “it’s okay if I gain all my weight back, I have clothes that fit me.” Why are you giving up before you’re finished? Get those clothes out of your house. Purging your wardrobe everytime you drop a size will tell your brain that you are serious about this change and you have to now maintain this healthy lifestyle because getting those baggy clothes back will be expensive. Give your body the chance to show it what it can do when your mind isn’t trying to cajole it back to what it once was.
If you’re going around in elastic pants all time, try and limit the amount of time you wear them. For the other hours of the day, wear clothes that fit you well with a numerical size so you can continue to feel and see your results.
If you want to know more about how we constantly check in our clients’ progress so they can reach their goals, we would love to talk with you. We can set you up with a free consultation where you can come in and talk to us to see if we are the right fit for one another. Reach out to our team at 806 322-3188 or info@customfitness.biz. Our focus is making sure that people get real results and that they’re not wasting their time by just sweating. We want all of our clients experience a body transformation that will complement their goals. At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainer in Amarillo. Have a great day everybody.