You can use either suspenders over your shirt or hikers suspenders, which sit beneath your shirt to keep your pants up.
Sometimes, a belt just doesn’t work, especially if you’re more prominent around the middle, so a better option may be an elastic belt like BeltBro, which uses elastic straps to hold a few belt loops closer together.
If you’re moving around a lot, tucking your shirt in won’t help as it will keep coming loose, so an elastic belt can help as it holds your pants firmly in place where it matters, at your hips.
It’s a dark day when you look down and realize you have to breathe in to see your feet, but it’s a fact that the older we get, the harder it is to lose that excess weight.
If, like me, you struggle to lose that belly fat, even when working hard all day and watching what you eat, welcome to the club!
Most of the time, I don’t even mind the bigger belly—every beer was paid for, and there’s more of me to love (that’s my excuse, anyway).
What did drive me nuts, though, was having to pull my pants up all the time. If your pants need a helping hand to stay up, read on. I’ve got several solutions that will save you the hassle of constantly readjusting while you’re working.
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need to Keep Your Pants From Falling
The three best solutions I’ve ever used for keeping my pants up are:
- External Suspenders (think Gordon Gecko, not Victoria’s Secret)
- BeltBro Elastic Belts (never have to stand with your thumb hooked into a belt loop again)
- Hikers Hidden Suspenders (unlike regular suspenders, these are beneath your clothing)
3 Tricks to Keep Your Pants Hiked When You’ve Got a Belly
1. Use External Suspenders
Men have been wearing suspenders for work since the 1700s. Until the 1930s, they were worn beneath clothing rather than over the top. A quality pair of suspenders, also known as braces, stop your belly from pushing down your pants.
The main thing to look for in a pair of suspenders is how well they attach to your belt hooks. Climbing ladders and bending down a lot means they’ll need to be heavy-duty.
Formal suspenders take less abuse, but for working all day, I can’t speak highly enough about the AYOSUSH Vintage Suspenders for Men.
The main thing to look for in a pair of suspenders is how well they attach to your belt hooks. These bad boys from AYOSUSH do so very well with their snap closures---I'm yet to have one pull free on the job.
Not much can go wrong with a pair of suspenders apart from the clips, so the bronze swivel snap hooks on these tough braces are perfect. You’ll be able to climb trees (if that’s your thing), move freely, and touch your toes without looking like you’re giving someone somewhere to park your bicycle.
Getting suspenders on is a case of following the steps below.
Step 1: Clip on the Rear Hooks
You can do this step while wearing your work pants or not. I prefer to attach the clips before I put my pants on to avoid twisting the suspenders.
The clips that attach to the back of your pants are the two shortest lengths, the ones closest to the crosspiece that sits in the middle of your back.
Step 2: Clip on the Front Hooks
Once you’ve attached the clips above your butt, it’s time to attach the front clips to the belt hooks to the front of your pants. Ideally, you need to connect the suspenders to the two belt hooks on either side of your zipper.
Ensure there are no twists in the suspender belt at the back or front, as the straps must lie flat against your shirt.
Pull the front straps over your shoulders, ensure there are no twists, and then attach the clips to your belt. Feel free to hook your thumbs underneath each strap, push it away from your body, and say, “Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel,” because I do every time I put my suspenders on.
Step 3: Adjust the Length of the Belt
You don’t want them so tight you’re walking around bent double, but they need to be tight enough to keep your pants in the same position all day.
The best way to get the length right is to follow steps one and two first and then check the tension in the two front suspender arms. If they need adjusting, slide them off your shoulders and either tighten or loosen each side the same amount.
Once you’re happy with the feel and the suspenders are holding up your pants without pulling them up under your chin, you’re all set for a day at work.
2. Use an Elastic Belt
If you find yourself repeatedly pulling up your pants by the belt loops, and constantly rearranging your clothes in an attempt to stay comfortable, then the answer to your troubles may be an elastic belt
Rather than going around your waist like a belt, the BeltBro Titan Elastic Belt only goes through two of your belt loops. You simply put one on each side of your pants, and they’ll hold all day long.
Rather than going around your waist like a belt, the BeltBro Titan Elastic Belt only goes through two of your belt loops. You simply put one on each side of your pants, and they’ll hold all day long.
If you’re a belt wearer, you may have noticed your belt digging into your stomach, and I find that on a bigger waist, a belt won’t hold your pants up anywhere near as well as a BeltBro will.
All you’ll need to do to wear a BelBro is;
Step 1: Choose the Correct Size BeltBro
The BeltBro Titan Elastic Belt pack comes as a multi-pack, with two small, medium, and large BeltBro included. Test out which size is most effective depending on your waist size and the spacing between your belt loops.
Step 2: Attach it to Each Side of Your Pants
You’ll need to use a BeltBro on each side of your pants to stop them from falling on one side.
Once you’ve selected your size, it’s simply a case of threading the BeltBro through your belt loops and then closing it with the Velcro holding it in place.
Step 3: Adjust for Comfort
That’s as complicated as a BeltBro gets, but once you’ve got your pants to the height you want, undo each BeltBro in turn and either tighten or loosen them until you’re happy.
Unlike a belt, which can still allow your pants to drop, a tightened BeltBro will hold all day long.
3. Use Hidden Suspenders
If standard suspenders aren’t for you, or you just want that little extra discretion, a fantastic alternative is a pair of hidden suspenders which are worn under your shirt. My favorite is these by HIKERS.
They’re also incredibly comfortable and easy to attach to your pants—keeping them up is as easy as 1,2,3:
If standard suspenders aren’t for you, or you just want that little extra discretion, a fantastic alternative is a pair of hidden suspenders which are worn under your shirt. These ones from HIKERS are the best I've found. They’re incredibly comfortable and really easy to attach to your pants.
Step 1: Attach the Rear Fastener to Your Pants
Unlike traditional suspenders, the HIKERS Hidden Suspender attaches in only two places, front and back.
So once you’ve got your pants on (shirt off for now), simply hook the rear fastener to your back belt loop.
Step 2: Drop the Front of the HIKERS Over Your Head
Bring the HIKERS over your head, ensuring your head goes between the two straps — the straps will sit flat against your skin, and as there aren’t any buckles, there’s nothing to trap your skin or hair.
Step 3: Attach the Front Fastener Using Your Fly Button
Undo the button on your pants, and then put the front fastener through the button. Once that’s done, and you’re happy there are no twists in the suspender straps, close your fly as usual. You can now put your work shirt on over the top, safe in the knowledge that your pants aren’t going anywhere.
One tip to remember—don’t forget you’re wearing HIKERS when you go to the bathroom, or your pants will jump right back up and kick you in the butt.
Keeping Those Pants Up
Being comfortable at work is important, so I hope you’ve taken some value from this article. My working day became much more straightforward once I’d solved it for myself.
I still use both the BeltBro Titan Elastic Belt and AYOSUSH Vintage Suspenders for Men regularly, depending on my work, so I hope you find them as helpful as I do.
None of my tricks will work for sweatpants, but there are no better options for working in jeans or sturdy work pants.
The main thing to look for in a pair of suspenders is how well they attach to your belt hooks. These bad boys from AYOSUSH do so very well with their snap closures---I'm yet to have one pull free on the job.
FAQs
How should you wear pants if you’ve got a big stomach?
If your waistline is above average, the best place for your pants to sit is just above your hips. Wearing them any lower than that will soon have them around your ankles as your stomach pushes them downwards.
You may find it easier to have your pants almost as high as your belly button if your waist is big enough that your hips won’t hold up your pants. Even then, you’ll need additional help by wearing suspenders or a BeltBro to keep them in place.
Will high-waisted pants make you look slimmer?
If you’re looking to hide some of your belly fat, wearing high-waisted pants can help make your stomach feel less conspicuous.
Wearing HIKERS Hidden Suspenders underneath a baggy shirt will keep your pants up to the required height and help make you look a little slimmer. Avoid tight clothing—your pants and shirt should have a little give in them.
What quick hack can I use to keep my pants up?
If your stomach is quite large, you may find your pants slowly being pushed down throughout the day. If you need a quick fit to see you through the day, you can use a few zip ties on either side of your pants to pull the side loops closer together.
The zip ties act like BeltBro fasteners, which are a more permanent fix to your pants falling down.
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