Can wearing yoga pants be hazardous to your health?

They’re fashionable and they’re comfortable….but is there a downside to wearing yoga pants?

If you wear yoga pants for more than just exercise, you’re not alone. Spandex pants have become fashionable and therefore acceptable attire in many different situations. Personally, I like to wear them because they are comfortable, and it’s an added bonus that wearing yoga pants outside of the gym doesn’t generate stares from people who are “properly” dressed for their day. Just because something is deemed appropriate, does it make it a good choice?

If you regularly wear yoga pants, outside of the gym, it will be hard to tell if your body is changing….either getting bigger or smaller. If you’re only wearing elastic waist pants, rather than jeans, or a fitted dress, skirt or slacks it will be hard to know that your weight is creeping up, more than the pound or two daily fluctuation that is normal. The elastic waist and the stretchy fabric not only hide your figure from the world, but it also allows you to hide from yourself what you already know to be true. You’re back on the roller coaster, in the ride to achieve and stick with your ideal weight.

Carrying around a few extra pounds is one thing, but gaining 5 or even 7 pounds a year, year after year, adds up to a whole lot of extra weight and often a whole slew of health ailments to go along with it.

I’m not a big fan of the scale. It’s not that losing weight (or maintaining your ideal weight), and knowing where you are in the process isn’t important, but your actual weight isn’t the only way to know what’s going on…..and it may not even be the best measure of success while you’re trying to trim down. One of the truest measures of success while trying to lose weight is how your clothes fit you. Although I really do believe the phrase, “abs are made in the kitchen,” I also acknowledge that weight training can play an integral part in a regime to lose weight. It’s possible, if you’ve been doing some weight training that you’re gaining in pounds, while losing in inches…..but that’s part of what I’m talking about. Eating a balanced whole foods diet, eliminating packaged and processed food, watching portion control, managing stress, exercising regularly, getting adequate sleep and drinking plenty of water are all ways that you can manage your weight. Weight training can be used to supplement that effort by changing the shape of the weight that you carry….and thus making your clothes fit differently. This is a win, even if not articulated by the scale. On the other hand, it’s also easy to judge weight gain, not due to lean muscle increase, by the way your clothes fit you. Not so easy to judge when those clothes are yoga pants….they’re very forgiving of those late night binges!

Wearing real clothes allows you to get real with regard to your weight. Maybe you’ve been working hard to be conscious of your eating and you’ve fallen into a regular exercise routine……celebrate your success by wearing REAL clothes from your closet that you haven’t been able to fit into in awhile. Keep wearing them. Let your clothes be your guide that you’ve fallen off track. If your clothes are beginning to feel too tight, see it as a sign that it’s time to own your own well being and get back on track…..and here’s why:

Carrying around as little as 10 extra pounds can affect your health and your life more than you may think. More than ⅔ of American adults are overweight or obese. Health complications due to excess weight will be the number one killer in the US this year…..and it’s entirely preventable. Obesity happens one pound at a time. So does prevention….but you have to notice it as it is happening and put a stop to it. Wearing yoga pants all of the time can mask what’s going on with your weight, keep you in denial and make your weight problem become a health problem.

While yoga pants can be super comfy, and I often do wear them for exactly that reason, be conscious of your desire to wear them because nothing else fits. Throw on your favorite elastic waist and spandex attire, head to the gym or to the great outdoors to exercise so that wearing REAL clothes can be enjoyable and flattering.