So hi awesome ones heather here. And a few years ago I did a video it was called...I think, 'Hiding
Your Tummy'. and it did quite well and I thought you know these days since a lot of us are idle
I thought I'm going to add some more things to the mix and kind of do a refresher on that video
for you and I just want to say right now this is not in any way a body shaming video. Hey I got my
curves, my fair share of curves. What I want to do is well if you're like me I've probably gained
about five pounds over the last few months you know just being so idle. And what I want to show
you are some tips that I kind of utilize and what you won't be seeing in this video is how to stay
slim and how to eat a raw carrot diet and you know all that kind of thing because as most of you know
I was a former model and I was bulimic and I was always trying to stay thin and I don't want to do
that anymore and I want all of you to stay healthy so let's get on with the tips and tricks let's go.
So let's start with the obvious choice for kind of flattening down our tummy and that's shapewear.
Now I used to always talk about, you know, the high waisted shapewear and how much I like them but
if you're having a long day sometimes you're moving around a lot, sometimes you get the dreaded
roll down. And that's no good that's terrible when that happens. So I've got another idea for
you. And let's take a look here and what you can see is I have of course showing over top of a
dress and a lot of times if you're wearing a dress you do want to wear your shapewear.
And you can see that I've got the the high-waisted, but over on the other side I have a bodysuit and
this bodysuit is great because I can wear my own bra with it and I'm not going to get the dreaded
roll down because I have straps with it. So there's an answer for you there. And by the way I'm going
to have links for that kind of a well let's call it a bodysuit kind of shapewear below
the description. So my second tip is stretch those tops. What the heck am I talking about with this?
Well you know when you go into a change room and you try on a top but it's just a little bit too
tight. Well let me show you the answer to that one. And what I usually do you can see in the first
picture here, I've got the t-shirt it's tight and please don't gasp because I do this to many tops.
As long as it has a stretchy material all I do is stretch the bottom and all of the
sudden I've got some room and all the curds...er... curves are hidden. Just be careful when you
stretch though because most of these materials have got a lot of give but do it kind of slowly
and carefully. Now let's take a look at three ways that I can sort of utilize a top where
I'm not just sort of letting it all hang out and I'm also not tucking it in so let's take a look.
So as you can see if I leave this top as is over my jeans every little curve and bulge is showing
but here are three tricks first of all just get an elastic and tie one end of the top and then just
tuck it in to get a little bit of ruching in the front. Another trick tip number two is just tuck
one end of it into a belt loop and gather over the top and you've got some nice ruching there.
And number three is just a simple tuck in both sides and then the ruching and the
tummy hiding just appears. So for tip number four high-waisted jeans and pants are back in style yay.
And also the skinny jeans are kind of easing their way out so we've got a little bit more room to
uh have in our trousers and our jeans and our pants which is kind of nice. But one thing about
the high waisted usually when you have that you know especially if you have the stretchy material
please get the stretchy material in your pants and your jeans it kind of holds everything in a
little bit so you probably won't need to wear the shapewear with that. But let's take a look I still
have some tips for you in wearing high-waisted pants or jeans. So let's take a little look here.
And here are a couple of high-waisted jeans but notice that the darker jean color is a lot more
slimming. Not even just around the waist but you know all of that part sort of around your hips and
if you're choosing a denim wash I would say just really try to get a darker version. Let's
take a look next at jackets. A jacket a spring or a fall jacket you're wearing it a lot but
a lot of times we're not really making ourselves look that great with a jacket. So let's take a
look. So if you're a little bit curvy on your belly you may choose to buy an oversized jacket.
I've got to tell you this is doing nothing for you. Buying oversized clothing not just in jackets
but in dresses and tops it actually makes you look bigger. So it's best to find a jacket that
gives you more of a little cinching in the waist, more your size. And you'll notice this will give
you more of an hourglass kind of figure and it gives the illusion that you have a smaller waist.
and for tip number five let's talk belts. Now you know I love the stretchy belts but
if you're wearing a belt that's a lighter color around your waist it's probably not a great idea.
So here I am in one of my favorite jumpers and hey you know a white belt might seem to really go with
this outfit especially if it's summertime but all I'm doing here is really putting the attention on
my waistline and making it seem bigger. It's best to stick with a darker belt and even put
it a little bit lower on your hips. And like I said before make sure that you get one of those
stretchy belts because the stretchy belts are well, well they're stretchy and they're super
comfortable. And what I'll do also I know a lot of you said the stretchy belts are really hard to
find, so what I'll do is below the description I'll make sure we have some links for you from amazon
for those stretchy belts. And also on the end screen of this video what I'm going to do for you
is i'm going to put a link to that original hiding your belly kind of video that I did. There's a lot
more tips in that one. So if you want to take a look at it it'll be on the end screen of this one.
One of the other things that we really need to do with our look is make us look taller because if
you look taller you automatically look slimmer. And so my next tip is to elongate your look.
So here are two looks that are almost the same but not quite. One looks a little bit more frumpy
and I certainly look heavier. I'm also wearing one of those shorter cropped jackets and you're going
to see a lot of the shorter cropped jackets, sweaters, tops they're going to be trending
this year. But in the second version I'm wearing a v-neck which really helps elongate the look.
Also a higher heel and I'm not really drawing attention to my waist by tucking the shirt in.
I also have a longer jacket and I also didn't roll up my jeans. So you know again I've got the longer
tuck that way or the longer look I should say that way and with all this untucking and elongation
my waist it's just not so obvious. So another few tips for elongating your look and how about a long
necklace that'll just sort of bring the eye down a little bit. Also wear darker clothing underneath
you know whether you're wearing a duster or a jacket and again make sure that they're a
little bit longer for you. And there's one more... oh yeah vertical stripes. You know the people just
automatically look up and down with a vertical stripe. So that helps as well and one of the
things I wanted to talk about in this video is I just want you to be kind to yourself. You know that
over the last little while it's been difficult. I mean yeah I'm buying some takeout food just
to make me feel happier. And the gyms have been closed. So much and it's just it's a different way
of living. And of course you know I'm fluctuating between five and seven pounds and I'm just not
going to beat myself up for it because it is what it is. I'm going to get back to normal again.
But again I...let me know in the comments let's sort of support each other on this because maybe you're
sitting back and you're going oh my gosh look at me and I don't want you to feel like that. I want
you to know that even me as a former model you know I've gained weight and I'm just going to
relax with it. I'm going to be kind to myself but I'm also going to make sure that I have a
few fixes so I don't have to run out there and buy a whole new wardrobe. Oh and I'm going to share a
little trick with you for those jeans that don't seem to want to buckle up these days. And here we
go. Simply all you do is take a hair elastic and fit it to the buckle and fit it through the loop
like this. And you're going to get an extra inch or two until we can all get back to normal. That's
going to help. Also make sure that the zipper is sort of closed so that the zipper doesn't start to
ease its way down a little bit. So once again really be kind to yourself and do some walking. You
know I've got one of those fitbits and you can go out and get your 10 000 steps. Another thing that I
do...do you remember Seinfeld? How many of you remember Seinfeld and the Elaine dance? Well I kind
of do the Elaine dance when I'm cooking in the kitchen. I put on some music and while I'm waiting
for something to boil I'm usually doing this. The kids were always embarrassed every time I did the
dancing but I call it dancercise. I also have a stationary bike. And actually if you're on a budget
a lot of these kind of QVC's and shopping channels they've got these payment plans for an entire year.
And it doesn't have the online coaching and all that sort of thing, but it works for me.
And I think I was paying about $25 a month or something like that for it, so it wasn't a big
outlay right off the bat. So maybe you want to take a look at some of those answers to just you know
staying in exercising and of course eating healthy. Someone who gets lots of exercise actually you
get like three walks a day don't you. He certainly does. It's our little Yorkie Hurricane.
In future videos of course I'm going to have more fashion for you. I'm going to have more makeup but
I'm going to pepper a lot of the videos for...you know self-care and I just want to really address
a lot of the things that we're going through us awesome ones in the community.
And...I...you know, don't forget also to share in the comments if you've gained weight because I
don't want you to think that you're alone in all of that. And if you've found a way that you are
losing weight or eating healthy or whatever you know as long as it's not one of those
fad diets that actually make people not feel so well, share it share it in the comments for us. And
you know it's so important that we all stay...well that we're all on this journey together and
being older mature women we're going to have our ups and downs. But let's not just think oh I've got
to be 20 again or I wish I were or I shoulda or I coulda or all of those things. You know
be be happy where you are right now because for a lot of us we should be grateful
that we're even where we are right now. And and live every day. Enjoy every day. You've got a few
pounds on you? You know what? It's okay. We're all in this together and we're all the awesome ones.