Lean in to those Curves

The holidays have come and my schedule has rapidly filled up.  It's time to start looking at Christmas Party Dresses and I've had zero time for hitting the gym for some early those workouts, but I have made plenty of time for mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pie.  Naturally I'm noticing some extra curves.  I'm not freaking out, in fact I'm looking forward to it, but adding a few extra pounds can affect the way clothes fit, but if holiday pounds have you shying away from form fitting clothes, I have a few tips to help you lean in to those curves.

 

Everyone puts on a little weight this time of year.  It's cold and our bodies are naturally craving comfort foods and warmth.  Throw in a series of holiday events loaded with dairy laden main dishes and decadent desserts and you have the perfect recipe for weight gain.  That can cause some added stress at this time of year, but the holidays are stressful enough, here's one area where planning ahead a little can help keep you calm and looking fab through the most wonderful time of the year.

Count on it.  Studies show that the average person gains an average of six pounds/2.75 kilograms during the holidays.  If you know it's coming, you can be prepared for it, mentally and physically and get a plan in place on how you can adjust your fitness regime during or after the parties and get-togethers.  If you know you've got an event coming up that will be serving some of your favorite and most hard to resist dishes, eat lighter at the other two meals of the day.  For example if you're going to mom's for dinner and you know she's making that triple fudge cheesecake you can't say no to,  plan on having fresh fruit and oatmeal at breakfast and a simple green salad at lunch so you've got some caloric wiggle room for your favorites.  --Don't skip meals!  It tends to make you overeat and can slow your metabolism down in the long term.

Know your shape.  If you know where your trouble spots are and where you're most likely to gain, you've got two choices  1.  do some focused workouts to help offset any gain in those areas.  2.  look for styles that accentuate those trouble spots in a positive way.  For me the weight gain tends to be on my lower half.  It's easy to cover it up with a full skirt, but I'm not going to take the easy rough this time, because the easy route and the fab route rarely converge.  Instead, I'm going with a printed pencil skirt.  The print does a little camouflaging FemmeLuxe has lots of great Christmas Party Dresses and Glitter Dresses that  look great on curves.  This is party dress season with all the glitter and frills you can find.  This week I'm featuring the Bardot Cowl Neck Ruched Midi Dress - Malia in emerald and for today's post I'm wearing  the Malia dress in Rust. 

I love being able to feature the same item of clothing in different colors to show you all the potential in a certain style.  I chose Malia in Rust because it can be a year round look, but also because it isn't a traditional holiday color, but I think it looks amazing with gold metallic accents, perfect for all the major holidays.  The Malia dress is a midi dress and remember that Midi Dresses accentuate the narrowest part of the waist and makes those curves look amazing.  This dress is also great because it has top to bottom ruching (the gathered folds) which do an amazing job of masking trouble spots.  It also has this wonderful front detail of some draped ruching and the side straps to really make it stand out.  Because this is a midi dress, it's going to show off your shape and the ruching helps to really maximize your shape's potential by creating a very even form, meaning no bumps where you don't want them.

 

Consider Shapewear.  Maybe you don't have time for the extra workouts right now.  Maybe you keep getting hit with last minute invitations, so you're not able to do a little calorie planning.  But, you can get a great dress that has you looking like a million bucks, and if shapewear would give you the confidence to wear it with your chin up, absolutely owning the room, then I say go for it. For this Malia dress, I opted not to wear shapewear, because I feel like this dress is doing all the work to make my body look its best, but throughout the season, I will be sporting some and I'll try to mention it when I do, so you'll know if the outfit required it. 

Til then keep checking back this week for more holiday style tips and we'll breeze through this season together in style.  And FemmeLuxe will be right there with us!

 

Shopping Info: Rust Bardot Cowl Neck Ruched Midi Dress - Malia by FemmeLuxe. Chelsea Crew Heels, Jewelry from Catherine's, Cuff from: SHEIN