When you get yourself on the right track and go from being a couch potato to having a reasonably fit and trim physique, the difference it makes in your health, self-confidence, and self-esteem is enormous. However, it can be frustrating when you put on your favorite outfit or buy some hot new clothes, only to be disappointed by how you look in them. It is easy to get discouraged if you look like a sack of potatoes in your clothing, especially when you feel that your body is in much better condition than the reflection in the mirror would indicate. The problem, of course, is that you’re still dressing the body you used to have, instead of the body you have now.

As any tailor or seamstress will tell you, even if you take two women who are the same clothing size number (e.g. two women who are both size 10), the exact same dress will fit them each differently. So if your size 10 jeans fit before, but since then you have toned up a bit around the torso and hips, even if you haven’t lost any weight and the jeans still fit you in a general sense, you can’t expect that you will fill them out the same way you did previously. Even a small amount of gaping in the waistband or sagging in the bottom can turn your fabulous favorite jeans into something like looks like a hand-me-down. So if you want to show off your new muscle tone, it’s worth it to go and get yourself a few basic items that fit your current body shape. Even if you aren’t down a size, different makers cut their clothes in different ways, and perhaps the brand of jeans that fit you well all your life is not the same brand that will fit you well now.

You also need to adjust the mindset of what sort of clothing cuts you need, especially if your body has gone through some significant changes. All your life you may have had it in your head that long, flowing shirts are always the way to go for you, but that was back when you had a muffin-top waistline, and you were trying to mask it in any way you could. Now that your abdomen is svelte and firm, those oversized tops may still be comfortable (both physically and emotionally), but they will hardly present a trim waistline in a flattering way. It is often very difficult to break with a lifelong clothing habit, but force yourself to try on things that you never would have dreamed about before. If you wish for nothing more than to show off your waistline, it makes sense to choose a more fitted, tailored shirt, rather than the loose, floaty ones you would have invariably chosen in the past.

Our clothes have a lot to do with how we feel about our outward appearance, and even the smallest changes in body shape can wildly affect the way our clothing fits us. So if you’re proud of your new body and you want to show it off, do yourself a favor and get your clothes altered, or take some time to shop for clothing that suits your new shape. The difference in how you look will be astonishing, and that in turn will help you feel as confident as you should in your new-found fit physique.