If you saw the phrases “jeans hack” and “weight gain” and had a small panic, we really don’t blame you. True, the body positivity movement has opened our eyes to healthier ways of thinking about our bodies, but diet culture is still, very much, a thing.
For many of us, when we think of jeans and weight gain, our first thought is still “How do we drop a jeans size?” (Thanks, Special K). In other words, we think “How can we change our bodies?” rather than “Where can we find clothing that makes us feel comfortable?”
Thankfully, one content creator is normalising weight gain – one TikTok at a time. Sarah, who goes by @sarahinyellow, shared the ultimate jeans hack for dealing with weight gain ahead of summer.
TikTok content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
In her TikTok, Sarah wrote, “POV: you’ve gained weight since last year but refuse to buy new jeans so you’re stretching the waistband with paperback books and squats.” She then demonstrated the hack, having placed several books inside the waistband of her jeans and doing a squat. We’re living for the creativity.
So err, does it actually work? Well, one person commented, “Wait omg does this work bc you might be saving my life here,” to which Sarah responded, “Only a tiny bit but if they’re just a lil tight give it a try!”
Another person wrote, “clothes are made to fit you! you are not made to fit clothes. ur so beautiful remeber that <3 [sic],” alluding to the fact that it’s perfectly okay to buy clothes that actually fit if you’ve outgrown yours. Sarah replied, “Thank you beautiful💛 These ones are thrifted so I can’t buy a new pair but I’m absolutely replacing the other clothes that don’t serve me anymore.”
It’s not the first time Sarah has shared some solid words of wisdom about weight gain. In a previous TikTok, she said, “If you’re going into the summer knowing that you’ve gained a little weight since last year, then this is the video for you…”
She then provided the following tips for making peace with weight gain:
1. Understand where your limiting beliefs about “weight = worth” come from
“For my clients, this is typically diet culture, early childhood experiences (either from a mother, or a father, or an aunt that had negative body image towards themselves or you), childhood bullying, hitting puberty before anybody else… Any of these can lead to your limiting beliefs that your worth equals your weight.
2. Take small steps each day to make your daily life easier
“If you struggle with being nice to yourself, working on your self-talk every single day is something that you need to do to be kinder to yourself and accept the weight gain […] Your focus should be ‘How can I alleviate the negative body thoughts on a small scale that’s easy for me to maintain?’”
3. Get clear on your goals for the future when it comes to your body image