About fat clothes

What do you do when you outgrow your clothes?  I used to save them because you just never know.  Right?  Well, this last (and I do mean LAST) time losing weight, I rid myself of fat clothes as quickly as I could.  I tried not to feel an emotional attachment to anything, even the sparkly black dress I wore at Christmas that I got for a such a bargain price at a department store.  Too big?  Too bad!  Bye-bye, fat clothes!

All the experts say to discard your fat clothes once you fit into smaller sizes.  Does it scare you?  Eliminating fat clothes from your closet means you have no safety net, nothing to wear if your jeans get too tight.  And yet, that's kind of the point.  When I was in college, working as a nanny, a size 6 woman I worked for told me her secret for maintaining the same size through four pregnancies:  she simply never bought a bigger size. 

Clearly, her strategy worked for her, but I never adopted it as my own.  When my jeans became too tight, I bought another bigger pair . . . not conceding that I truly wore a bigger size, but just admitting that I needed something "just until I lost the weight."  Ha.  Talk about denial!  And soon, I could only wear the big sizes and the smaller jeans didn't zip at all.

I did that from a size 10 to a 12.
Then a size 12 to a 14.
Then a size 14 to a 16.
Then a size 16 to an 18.
Then, I bought a size 20, after a pregnancy and the SECOND I could zip up the size 18s again, I got rid of the size 20.  And I laid on the bed to zip up those size 18 jeans, dying from how tight they were but they WERE NOT 20!  (Even though I was, really, truthfully, if I weren't lying to myself.)

Anyway, this time around, I have no safety net.  I don't have any jeans but size 12.  I didn't save any elastic-waisted pants.  I'm not going back, no how, no way.

My secret for transitioning from one size to another is this:  thrift stores and clearance racks at discount stores (Marshall's is my favorite).  I bought jeans at thrift stores (my favorite pair of Calvin Kleins cost me $9.99) and shirts at Marshall's.  No need to break the bank or invest a lot of money in clothing that is literally only for a season.  (And what fun to discover the improved selection of clothing I find in smaller sizes.) 

This week, I challenge you to sort through your clothes.  If something's too big, pass it along to someone who can use it or donate it to a thrift store.  If something doesn't fit and is no longer in fashion (believe me, I had some crazy distressed jeans from the 80s that I hung on to way too long), get rid of it.  Just save what you love, what fits and what flatters.  Don't hang on to ugly clothes, stained clothes, clothes that you don't want to be seen wearing in public.

And I'll do the same (though I'm not quite ready to let go of those velour pajama pants from 1997 because they are SO comfortable).

*  *  *

I wrote about this a year ago, just about.  Remember?  And you all told me NO LEGGINGS, even though I have great legs which look good in leggings.  Hmph.

Comments

[Melissa]

I'm having sort of a clothes melt-down right now. (I think I forgot to check in Thursday night, but I gained 1.5 after not losing anything for like five weeks). I've been in the same size for so long, that not only am I getting tired of the few clothes I do have (not buying much because I thought I would continue to just melt away) but they're also getting a bit worn because they're in such heavy rotation.

Yet, I don't feel like I deserve new clothes, because I haven't lost the weight (Bad, bad girl! No new clothes for you) and, what if I buy some, and then I start to lose again?

I was a size 14, and now I'm more of a 12, but my 14s aren't falling off, just looser.

I have to do something soon. I don't want to go into fall wearing the same stuff I had last year, just a little bit baggier.

[JP]

It's kind of awesome, though, to put on stuff I wore last winter and realize that there's no way I can go into public wearing it because it's now huge. Although it's kind of sad that I ever had to wear clothes that big.

[Emily]

This is a really hard one for me. I'm pretty young--just graduated college, married two years, have an 8-month-old. When I got married, my mom and I went and bought some nice, quality pieces meant to last a long time. They still look great-but not on me! With breastfeeding and starting a healthier diet, the 55 lbs I put on during pregnancy dropped off within 3 months, and 3 months after that I'd lost another 20. This means I'm 2 sizes smaller than all these lovely clothes.

Money is tight (hubby is still in college) and since this is a college town all the thrift stores and even Marshall's and Ross are REALLY picked over. And unfortunately, it's easier to find things in 8's 10's and 12's than in my size now. Pooh.

[JanB]

I have been donating my clothes as I get too small for them and buying what I can from thrift stores because I am changing sizes so much. I started out buying new clothes back when I went from a 3x to a 22, but then having to donate things that I just bought nearly killed me. So now I only buy bras and underwear new and buy the rest as transition clothes at the thrift stores. Who knows what size I will be, but I sure don't want the temptation of fat clothes to fall back into like falling into a bad habit!

[Sarah S. Chicken]

That has actually been one of my favorite things about losing weight. I get hand-me-downs from friends, thrift store bargains, and every once in a while a treat. And I GLEEFULLY pass on the clothes that are too big. I altered a couple of my bigger dresses to be smaller, but they still don't look right.

I am keeping nothing that is too big, unflattering, or stained, just like you said. Although I do hang on to some old T-shirts for painting, etc.

[LyndaL]

I always say that at present I am renting clothes - I know when I buy stuff that I am (hopefully) only going to wear it for a short time before getting rid of it for smaller sizes. So I too am haunting the sales and the charity shops for bargains. Maybe we should start a swapping system on here - each person passing their bigger clothes onto the ladies coming on behind her! I have got a GORGEOUS Claudia Stevens 2-piece evening outfit (black velvet and chiffon and REALLY flattering) which I haven't thrown out because it cost me (gulp) £400 - that's about $800 - and I only wore it once! And it's a UK size 22 but I now wear a 14! I can hardly bear to throw it out but I would happily pass it on to anyone who needed a great formal outfit. Food for thought there.

[Kery]

I've got rid of my larger clothes, for exactly the same reason. My only problem currently is that, being a student with a part-time job only, I can't buy new clothes, even from thrift stores, as fast as I'd need to replenish my wardrobe. So I still have to keep my least-fat-clothes, so to say, even if they're one size too big. But those will go ASAP, too!

And that said, I totally agree with our post. After all... if we're so much convinced we'll need those clothes again in the future, why even bother trying to lose the weight, for starters?!

[LeeAnn]

Yes, I have gotten rid of mine. I just gave my last size 18 dress away the other day! It feels so good. I can't say I can get rid of my 14's yet. They are still fitting and the 12's are tight. GRRRR

[Jen E]

Well, unfortunately, I have the OTHER problem right now. All of my clothes are too small. I went shopping with my daughter this weekend and when all the clothes that I thought "should" fit me couldn't even be pulled on, I resigned to not buy the next bigger size. I don't know how I got to big so quick but I don't want to be here. I'm off to a snail's pace start, but I'm working on it!! I think you'll be seeing more of me around here!!!!

[Jaime]

I cleaned out my closet a couple of weekends ago, and ended up with 4 garbage bags of clothes to take to Goodwill. I'm pretty sure I won't have to buy hangers for the next 2 years.

I didn't keep anything that was too big for me, but I did keep some stuff that was too small so I'd have something to look forward to!

[Kristin]

I, perhaps unwisely, bought lots of new, expensive clothes all the while I was losing weight. I do think that having nice clothes that looked good kept me motivated - but it was expensive. I sometimes say (somewhat as a joke) that I spent the money on clothes that someone else would spend on gastric bypass surgery. There was a period of time when I would buy something and by the time I was going to wear it it was too big! I did a lot of exchange work at Macy's. More than a year ago I gave away tons of clothes to friends (the nicest stuff), and donated three times more to the Salvation Army (I had a big tax deduction in 2005). I still have too-big clothes hanging around, mostly because I haven't had the time to clean out my closets again (although I need to make space for all the smaller-sized new clothes also). I know I won't need the bigger clothes again. I'm only keeping a few really nice blazers in size 12 & 14 that I hope to have altered, because I love them and they're too expensive to replace! (And since I've put myself on shopping restriction, getting those jackets altered will be my "new clothes" for fall!)

[Patti Justice]

I can't wait to have closets full of clothes to get rid of. I'm stuck at 224.7. I know I was down before but I went back up and now the scale won't move. It's the steroids I had to take I know it is but I can't do anything about that now. But someday soon I'm going to be complaining about my closets too.

[Sandy McCann]

I was just planning to take the challenge of weeding my closet again. I did *most* of it, but hung on to stuff that I could get away with wearing even though it was not a perfect fit...now I am ready to ditch some of that because I can't bear to look at myself when I try it on (too huge.)

That said, and though I agree with the theory that it is better to commit to being in these new sizes, I think I would (and did when I was younger myself) handle the larger size clothes differently if I was still in the childbearing years. Assuming there is storage apace available I would selectively keep the things that fit me in the larger sizes for those trips through pregnancy. MY budget is straining enough right now as I replace my wardrobe and years ago as young mother it was next to impossible to afford to replace clothes no matter what the reason was.

[breckgirl]

Hoorah for the velour pants - I, too, am totally addicted to my velour pants. I have three pair, two almost new, but I still wear the nasty old grey ones with the see-through crotch (the velour has long worn off that spot) because I so love them and their soft goodness. We don't call them velour - they are my COZY PANTS. Especially good when I've had a big meal, or have my period or my jeans are too tight. I will throw out some of my fat clothes, though there aren't a lot. I am also into thrift stores and discount stores for temporary sizes - I haven't bought myself much at all over the last two years (other than maternity) so I don't have much to toss but I will take on the challenge!

[top weight loss site]

I am really not that into cloths but one thing is for sure and that is when finding bigger cloths is hard that is a sign. I love people to death but I pray that people will put more time in bettering themselves as their life is valuable.

[Liz]

This is the first time that I've ever ditched the big clothes as I got smaller. I did keep one pair of size 18 jeans for comparison purposes, but everything else went. I gave it away on freecycle, I gave it to friends. For awhile it seemed like I was always having to buy new clothes. However, when I finally got to my current size my daughter started giving me clothes she didn't like for one reason or another. So size 6 has been the cheapest size of all, and I now get to wear pants from the Gap instead of pants from K-mart. To all of you who are still struggling, let me say the destination is worth the trip. I've dropped 65 pounds in the last 15 months and gone from tight size 18 jeans to nicely fitting size 6's. I can now run a mile, run up stairs, and hula hoop. The weight came off one pound at a time (sometimes a half a pound at a time), but by watching what I ate and how I moved it did come off. The only problem is that it is much easier to find size 12's than it is size 6's (unless you shopping in more expensive stores). However, I'll live with that problem any day compared to walking around with a BMI of 34.