The Truth About Sizing Up in Clothing

Did you hear this growing up?

Bodies change.In different directions: sizing up, and sizing down.

Guess which one diet culture claps for and has you trained to believe is the only "good" outcome?

You guessed it: sizing down.

And while sizing down does naturally happen in life, sizing up is often seen as a failure.

What I want you to take away from this post:

Sizing up can be a by-product of:

healing your relationship with food,

getting to focus on things outside of body image (if your current size is only maintained through rigid food rules/exercise, that's tiresome focus),

and truly taking care of your physical, mental, community, and financial health.

If you've noticed that you've had to size up this past year, here is a list of things you don't have to do:

You don't have to add in extra workouts, or increase your intensity during planned workouts - this may create a resentful relationship with exercise

You don't have to refuse to eat salty cheesy chips with your sandwich & veggies at lunch

You don't have to go on social media for a while and/or you can mute or unfriend those on diets. It doesn't have to be out of spite, it's rather honoring your own boundaries because you get to control what you consume.

You don't have to go on the Whole30 or start tracking food on MyFitnessPal.

You don't have to feel the need to force yourself to *love your body*, and instead can try to learn self awareness & respect first.

As you move forward, remind yourself:

If you have to size up in clothing, it doesn’t make you a less valid person

If you have to size down in clothing, it doesn’t make you a better person

Both instances happen in life, and neither one defines your character.

xxx,

Allison