How I Deal With Weight Gain

If you read my recent post discussing contraception, you’ll know that I’ve put on quite a bit of weight over the past three or four months as a side effect of the contraceptive injection. Putting on weight is always upsetting, and for someone who has lost a lot of weight over the past few years, it’s extremely frustrating for me to feel as if I’m right back to square one thanks to something that is so out of my control. 

Battling with body image is a war that, for most of us, will never end. As much as we preach about accepting ourselves and being happy in our own skin, the high of publishing a self-elevating blog post is rarely enough to not make us cringe every time we recognise something we hate about ourselves in the mirror. I could write here ‘that’s how I feel anyway’, but I know I’m not alone. I know a lot of you guys feel like this all of the time, and it’s really really hard not to slip into self-loathing.

I’m not here to tell you that you should forget about it, or you should be happy for what you have and love all of your bumps and curves bla bla bla because it’s not going to change the way you really feel. When I’m overweight I only feel good about my body in the following three situations: 1. totally naked, with no high waisted Joni jeans pushing up my fat into unattractive under-breast folds, 2. when somebody says I look skinny and/or I look good totally naked (will take either in the comments below) and 3. when I lose weight. Instead, I’m just going to talk to you about how I deal with gaining weight, and hopefully you can find something in this that might help you along the way too.

It’s not forever

This was a big one for me, as I knew the contraceptive injection only lasted three months (although it can affect you for up to a year). As soon as I started putting on weight I just had to remind myself that, yes, it was shit, but eventually I would get control of it again and it was entirely possible for me to lose the weight. Weight isn’t permanent – it can be gained and it can be lost, and if you’re anything like me, your weight rarely stays the same anyway. If it’s not within your control now, it will be.

Comparing yourself to yourself is the worst idea ever

Whilst comparing yourself to others is obviously a bad idea, comparing yourself to yourself is even worse. As soon as I had put on a considerable amount of weight, I wiled away far too much of my time looking at old, skinnier pictures of myself. “Why didn’t I appreciate the lack of sidtes rolls then?” I wailed, missing the days of only having one double chin instead of two. Do. Not. Do. This. It will only make you feel terrible, and it takes your body out of any kind of context. When I was my thinnest I was working as a waitress, moving around non-stop for up to 12 hours a day and only eating toast and snatched bread rolls (hey wedding guest, if you don’t want it, I’ll have it). Now I sit down all day, either blogging or working or writing my dissertation, and out of boredom I eat all the freakin’ time. Content is important for putting your weight into perspective, as well as highlighting what you may need to change in order to drop it off again (i.e. I need to stop eating Easter eggs for breakfast).

Wear cute shit

Don’t let weight gain stop you from wearing cute shit. I know whenever I’m feeling chubbier, all I want to do is put on an oversized sweatshirt and a pair of pyjamas, but when you do dress up and get your hair did and your make-up is on point, you don’t feel so bad. When I first put this trouser/knitwear combo on I lost the plot and went on a 5 minute rant of ‘No I look shit it looks good on the hanger and awful on me who am I what’s happening I’m never wearing clothes again I’m moving to the Shetland Isles and I’m living in a potato sack goodbye cruel world Adieu’. But once I popped on a pair of killer heels, mixed up the textures and made my hair look cute af, I felt myself again. Keep wearing cute shit, and remember that you’re sassy af and filling out your spare tyre isn’t going to change that.