The Case Against Skinny Jeans

When I write "skinny jeans," I'm not talking about a pair of tight jeans with no flare. I'm referring to any article of clothing which used to fit you when you were thinner.

Somewhere in your closet, you might have a shirt, or a t-shirt, or, yes, a pair of jeans which is a few sizes too small. "I'll keep it to motivate myself to lose weight," you say.

There's only one problem with this thought––it's stupid! It won't motivate you to lose weight, assuming you even need to lose weight at all. Let me explain why.

If you ever lose enough weight to fit into your skinny jeans, you'll need a lot more than one pair of jeans, or one old t-shirt. Most of your old clothes will be too big for you, which means you'll either have to wear them baggy, get them tailored, or get rid of them and buy a whole new wardrobe.

If you need or want to lose weight, there are many more efficient ways to go about it. Here are just a few:

• Cut out meat and dairy. Do this for two weeks and you will lose weight.
• Get rid of all the junk food in your house. Lead yourself not into temptation, and deliver yourself from extra kilos.
• Do a 30-Day trial related to weight loss. Dedicate 15 minutes every day to yoga, stretching, running, or some other form of exercise.
• Join a weight-loss program. In the United States, you can join Overeaters Anonymous, Curves, Weightwatchers, and more.

But if you don't need to lose weight, and look fine as you are, why have those skinny jeans in your closet? All you're doing is subconsciously shaming yourself for not being thin enough. Nothing good comes of doing that.

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Anorexia Nervosa photo by Janine. Used under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.

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