Althea Vestrit

Awesome! Great job reaching this milestone.

Well done!

Guzzi and nameless, thank you for your response. It hadn't occurred to me that maybe off rack clothing isn't the best for me. That may be why I get very frustrated with stores that are popular for professional women where I live. I've noticed some speciality stores like Boden are more pleasant to shop in. Its possible that if my waist trims a bit I may not notice the shoulders so much. Or maybe I just accept this is how I look. Who knows.

Hi everyone. I am new to Nerd Fitness, so this is an incredible forum for me to talk about this. Don't feel like I can say this to anyone in my life without either getting radio silence or chirps about "body positivity". The thing is, I really want to slim down my shoulders and upper arms. When I first started 2 weeks ago, I weighed about 155 lbs. I'm 5ft 6 and 33 years old. I have been slim all my life, but in the last 2 years added almost 10 pounds. I didn't care so much because (as a black woman) I don't mind a little extra in the trunk, and my boobs looked great. But the downside was my shoulders suddenly got rounder and wider. They aren't flabby, but they are so big. The clothes I like to wear I can't wear any more because I look like a rectangle. I guess my body type naturally has wide shoulders, but I never saw them as a problem because I was thin. Yet after I gained this weight, I haven't worn a sleeveless dress or sleveless blouse for 2 years. I don't wear suit blazers because they are so tight in the shoulders yet still way to big for me. And because I have short hair, I feel unfeminine when I look in the mirror. I started lifting weights over the last 2 years, but it didn't make a difference. Since I joined Nerd Academy I put myself on a low-carb paleo-like diet for breakfast and lunch. I cut out bread and cereal for breakfast, and instead eat protein and fats with a little non-starchy carbs (such as banana coconut pancakes). For lunch, I also cut out carbs, and either have grilled chicken with veggies, or a steak salad. This is a huge deal for me, as I LOVE rice (I also LOVE bread and have made my own breakfast bread for 4 years now). I keep my sanity by still having dessert at work, usually half a cup of icecream with some nuts. So I am not completely carb or sugar free, but I have cut back significantly. As a result I've lost a pound each week, so I'm now down to 152.5. My goal is to 145 - 148. I realize I don't WANT to be super thin, but I just want to go back to the variety I used to have in clothing choices. My question (sorry for the long intro) is whether it is possible to slim my shoulders too, or if that is a lost cause. Has anyone experienced something like my situation? Thanks for reading!