When the Clothes Don’t Fit Right

You know that moment when you catch your reflection pulling at your shirt, shifting your pants, convincing yourself it’s the cut, not the gut. But deep down? You know the truth.

In this episode of Fitness by Design, Spencer strips it all down: why your confidence’s been slipping, how that quiet tug at your clothes is really a warning sign, and why playing small shows up long before the scale does.

This isn’t a lecture. It’s a conversation about presence, pride, and power, and how to start getting it all back.

You’ll walk away with:

• A 3-step strategy to get your edge back without overhauling your life
• The quiet mindset shift that starts when your wardrobe starts whispering
• What most guys do wrong when they realize they’ve let themselves go, and how to actually fix it

Because this isn’t about how your clothes fit.
It’s about how you fit in your life.

If this episode hit home, make sure you’re subscribed. This is Fitness by Design, the podcast for high-performing men ready to stop winging it and start leading with their body.

For more stories, strategies, and hard truths:

Follow me on Instagram – @spencerhgallo
Connect with me on LinkedIn – Spencer Gallo
Or shoot me a text, I read every single one.

Let’s keep building your edge, one episode at a time.

Transcript

0:37

Do you ever have that moment where you're getting dressed for work, or maybe you're winding down for the night and you just catch yourself in the mirror and then you silently start tugging at your shirt? You pull it away from your stomach, you adjust the sleeves. You check to see if your pants are still sitting right on your hips and you tell yourself, ah, they just don't make it like they used to. But you know what's really going on? The shirts didn't change, your pants didn't change. You did. And here's the part that most of us guys never wanna talk about. When your body changes in a way that you don't feel proud of, your confidence starts to go with it. And it's not all at once. It's not dramatically. It's not like it just stops being there, but quietly, subtly, it slips away little by little, pound by pound And it shows up in the way that you carry yourself and in the way that you start hiding without even noticing it, you stop standing as tall. You stop making eye contact. You sit in the back during team meetings, you leave your camera off on Zoom calls. And you speak up just a little bit less in every meeting. And you start to lean on your resume, your role, your reputation, because your presence just isn't as strong as it used to be. And that's not just a personal issue, that's a leadership issue because the guy who's slowly watching every single piece of clothing get a little bit tighter every single week, he's not just losing comfort, he's losing his confidence. So what do you actually do about it? Well, I can tell you one thing. It's not another crash diet. It's not another round of, well, I'll start on Monday or 75 fucking hard. No. What you need is a real plan to get that presence back, one that is sustainable more than just a couple of weeks or a couple of months before you fall off the bandwagon again. Now, if it was me, here's how I would start. Number one is just own it. But quietly, you don't need to go on social media and broadcast the fact that you gained weight or vent to your coworkers and team about it. But you do need to acknowledge it to yourself. Not with shame, but just being honest. Like, listen, man, like I'm out of alignment. I don't feel comfortable or confident anymore. And it's starting to show up because that level of self-awareness, that's step one to taking your power back. Number two is find one anchor habit, not five, not a whole new morning routine. Not fucking dipping your face in a bowl of ice water. Just one thing, a keystone habit, if you will, that reconnects you with that control that you had. Maybe it's hitting the gym three times a week. Maybe it's taking a 15 minute walk during your lunch break. Maybe it's choosing to have a real meal instead of just another night of DoorDash with your wife tonight. Because the power isn't the habit itself, it's improving to yourself that you could actually follow through with it and stay consistent with it. And then number three is just reframing that wardrobe moment for yourself. The next time you put on that shirt, that just doesn't fit quite right. Don't use it as a reason to hide. Use it as a giant. Big red fucking flag. Not I'm letting myself go, but this is the week that I need to start showing up again. Because you don't need to go buy new clothes. You need to reclaim the body that used to fit in them. And look, I am not preaching from a pedestal here, man. I have stood in that mirror. I have yanked at my polo before pulling on a quarter zip. Anyways, I've cursed at my laundry machine. Like it's the reason that I keep skipping workouts or stress eating through my project deadlines. But I've also done the work to turn that around. And so if I can do it. You can do it too.'cause the goal isn't just to look good in your clothes anymore. It's to feel like the man who wears them has earned that pride, that presence and that confidence again. And that's exactly what engineered fitness is all about. It's not about perfection. It's not your performance, but power that real, grounded and earned power from being the man that you know that you should be. So if you've been hiding in your clothes, let this be your reminder. You don't need to change your wardrobe, you just need to build the body to wear it with confidence again. So this is fitness by design. And remember if your reflection has been whispering what happens, maybe it's time to start answering it with your actions.