How can I tell my daughter she just needs to go up a size?

I (47f) have a daughter (18f) who I just dropped off at college today. She is beautiful and smart but over covid she probably put on 15-20lbs- despite eating well and exercising. The weight came on, maybe even from simply getting older. She was crying yesterday about feeling “too fat to meet new people” at college and I totally get it. Her confidence is in the dumps. No one in the house has said word one about her weight gain but she is feeling it because her clothes are tight. It’s affecting her self esteem - even though she is still a fit girl. Anyway, in reality, much of this could be solved if she would just go up a size but she refuses. Not that we’ve talked about it and she refuses, simply that she won’t pick larger sizes when we shop. She doesn’t want to acknowledge the weight gain and therefore she doesn’t have a lot of clothes that fit. BOY do I understand. I have fluctuated a ton in my life and there’s nothing worse than moving into a bigger size. How can I get her to do this? She would be infinitely happier and confident if she had cute outfits in the right size, rather than feeling terrible in too-tight jeans. Any advice?

Tl;dr my kid needs new clothes in a bigger size and won’t realize it.

EDIT: thanks for all the advice! Just as an update, she has gone from a size 4-6 to a 6-8 most likely. No obesity or anything. Yes she is still very fit and healthy and works out but in school she was dance captain and was dancing hours and hours daily. It’s very common that you can stop that level of activity but your body is still keyed into the caloric needs of extreme activity, so that’s that. I did have the thought that I would take her sister thrifting (they are about the same size) and pick up some jeans that have the tags missing (common in thrifted clothes) and send them to her. To the commenters who pointed out that I said “nothing is worse than going up a size”….sigh. Yeah, I know there’s a lot worse things in the world. It’s hyperbole. I get it that the internet is no place for it lol. But, for a lot of women of a certain age (aka me) the fat phobia is ON POINT. Not that I have in any way expressed this sentiment to my child. As a matter of fact, I worked hard her whole life to keep these thoughts and feelings to myself after years of growing up with a tiny mom who was always trying to lose those “last 5 pounds”. I have been trying to break the cycle. It is interesting to me though that regardless, inside she still feels it. Guess society has a catch up some more. Thanks for the replies!

Submitted August 26, 2021 at 06:30PM by bingbongtake2long https://ift.tt/2WtRbW0