Get rid of the big clothes?

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  • I'm curious as to how many of us feel that getting rid of clothes that are too big helps in maintaining weight loss. Here's my experience:

    When I weighed over 250 pounds, I wore size 22W or 24W jeans. I started losing in January 2011 and at about 20 pounds down, my pants were too big, but I sew well enough that I altered them (twice, actually) at -20 and -40 pounds. By then it was spring and I bought one pair of size 18 jeans to get by. Then it got to be late spring / early summer and I needed a new pair of jeans for a party and bought one pair of size 16, but otherwise was able to wear shorts (pull-on, inexpensive, from K-Mart) for the summer. I had also altered sweatshirts that I wore to work, but had to buy new short sleeved tops for summer. At the end of summer as the weather turned cooler, I needed size 12 or 10 jeans and slacks and that's where I am still. I took advantage of end of summer sales and bought a few pairs of nicer shorts and a ton of tops on clearance for summer 2012. My main point being that I gave away all my size 24W and 2X stuff. I even gave away the few summer things from 2012 that were a size or so too big. Now all I have are clothes that fit me now. Except for one pair of size 24W jeans that I'll keep forever as a reminder of how big I actually was.

    If I were to gain weight, I'd have to buy new clothes. This has been a huge deterrent to me and I've managed to stay pretty close to 162 - 165 for just over 2 years now. I had friends tell me I was crazy for giving it all away. I hope I will never need the biggest stuff again, so it was OK to give all that away - pants, tops, skirts, dresses, coats, jackets, even shoes. There wasn't much in-between stuff anyway, and what I did buy was inexpensive and was donated to a shelter (so I don't feel bad about that.)

    For the life of me I can't remember what I did when I gained all the weight all those years ago, but I must have just bought new stuff as the old stuff got too tight. (Telling myself yet another outfit got shrunk in the wash?) How about the rest of you? Any thoughts? I'm of the mind right now that if we are serious about changing our life style and health for the better, it means making a commitment to ourselves, hopefully forever. That means, to me, no "fall-back" clothes. It's just my opinion, but I believe that keeping all those sizes of clothes would have been like telling myself that there was no way I'd succeed, that I had no confidence in myself, and that it was OK to go back to the old me after working hard to make changes.

    Anyone?

    Lin
  • Your post is timely for me and I appreciate the perspective from the other side. I'm down 55 pounds, with more than 50 still to lose. I haven't purchased any new clothes, partly because I don't want to waste money on clothes that will (hopefully) only fit for a few months. My mom took all my shorts in over the summer and a few pair of capris. Now that fall is here I realize none of my cooler weather clothes fit. I've been so frustrated that I'm constantly pulling my pants up! Your post has given me reason to go buy new clothes - so I can get rid of the fat clothes!
  • I got rid of all of my "fat" clothes when I hit onederland. No looking back for me! Currently I only have one pair of jeans that for since I've gained a few pounds back
  • The second any clothes got too big for me, I got rid of them. It was a tool that helped me continue to lose, because I sure was not going to go buy bigger clothes, only smaller clothes! Now that I'm at goal, I do have one pair of jeans that are just a tad baggy for those days when I'm a little bloated. I don't even have any baggy sweats...I used to live in those. I have sweats, but ones with waistbands and if I gain they'd be tight around the waist. I even threw away the one outfit I had kept to remind me of me at my heaviest...that's not me anymore.
  • I'm at the stage of getting rid of my fat clothes right now. I'm just so glad I didn't get rid of my skinny clothes when I was fat, LOL. I'm loving being able to fit back into my smaller clothes. I love pulling stuff out and putting it on and having it fit. I never want to wear my fat clothes again and I certainly don't want to keep them in the off-chance I might gain weight and need them, LOL.
  • I get rid of them, especially if I can no longer have them altered in order to fit properly. Not only is it a deterrent to gaining lbs, but I want to look nice and well put together regardless of my size.

    And not to mention all of the valuable closet space I would lose. lol
  • This post comes at a perfect time for me. I lost regained and have lost again. So I have been debating what to do with the too big clothes. Part of me is afraid to let go of the too big clothes but maybe I should get rid of them. I need to give this more thought. I have considered just keeping the few items that I liked.

    Whatever I decide, I will keep a couple of the largest pieces of clothing to remind me where I was.
  • I have been boxing the clothes up. I wish I were talented in sewing. Someone gave me some clothes over a year ago - before I started losing weight but they were too small. I've pulled them out and now they are too big! Oh well. I'm thinking thrift stores until I get where I want to be, but I'm going to make a rule that I drop off clothes at the same time. I'm no fashion plate to be sure, but wearing pants that look downright silly on me is just not going to happen.
  • I like buying clothes, and on average 'spruce' up my wardrobe every winter and summer....

    so basically I cannot wait to get rid of (in my head I kind of wish I could make a massive bon fire and burn them all) all my fat clothes...even my brand new $70 dress I just bought this summer....

    I cannot wait.... I will happily buy an in between wardrobe, and if needed get things altered....

    I am sorry if some people think this is a waste of money or something but I have also gotten rid of many of my 'thinner' clothes.... (the ones |I wore before I got hippo-fat) and my mum and I had a discussion, we like to shop and we want 'new'.

    This summer I got rid of about 6 garbage bags of clothes (all donated unless they were ratty) and still have a full closet and dresser at home... I probably won't NEED to buy clothes for at least 50-75 pounds, but I'll still do it.

    I consider it one of my rewards of weight loss.

    just my opinion.

    just want to add that I am expected to dress fairly professionally for work, and many clothes don't last in Egyptian washing machines for very long so many of my clothes will be worn out by June anyways.
  • I'm with KatMarie. I started this journey at 265 pounds and a size 22/24. I hated all of my clothes, and it was so depressing every fall to get down that 2XL storage box and unpack those awful clothes yet again. This year, I was able to fit into a size 16 and many of my saved XL fall/winter tops recently (around 225), so everything else WENT. Not just because they could be perceived as a safety net, but because I HATED them and never wanted to see them again. Even though I like my 16s, as soon as I can fit into my 14s*, they're GONE. No looking back!

    *Because of my yo-yo dieting, I have nearly an entire wardrobe in every size from 10 - 24...thanks, Goodwill!
  • Quote: (Telling myself yet another outfit got shrunk in the wash?)
    Yeah, that's pretty much what happened to me. And not only that, clothes from the store were apparently smaller than they used to be!

    I guess my reasoning was that I'd been a 22/24 and a 2X for pretty much all of my life, and I got really delusional in thinking that I couldn't get any bigger. For example, I reached a point where it was literally painful to sit down in my jeans, as they'd cut into my belly. My solution? Don't bother zipping up while at home. The extra problem? Sitting in them with the zipper undone stressed the zipper itself too much, causing it to break. I went through more pairs of jeans than I'd care to remember by busting the zipper like that. Oh, and my 2X shirts would have to be stretched out over my knees before wearing because either they shrunk in the wash or simply weren't big enough when I'd buy them. I eventually bought fake elastic "jeans" which were more forgiving than I'd realized, and I bought bigger shirts not because I was bigger, but because I needed something 'baggy."

    So I was genuinely convinced that all my old stuff shrank and that store sizes simply weren't what they used to be.

    I didn't really get my wake-up call on how much I had gained until the day I realized that not even the plus sized stores carried jeans big enough to fit me. I could still get by on stretch pants, but I honestly have no idea what pant size I actually escalated to. I was ready to celebrate on the day I was able to buy a pair of real jeans again, and even moreso when I finally got back down to a 22/24.

    I most recently worked my way down to wearing 16's, and have donated 90% of anything I owned over an 18. As for shirts, I've thrown out pretty much everything that simply makes me feel fat. I did hold on to some of my nicer shirts a size or two bigger than what I'd gotten down to, simply because I thought they might come in handy if I ever got pregnant . . . and they indeed have come in handy these past few months.

    Oh, and I've hung on to one shirt at my largest size because don't want to forget where I've come from. It's not me anymore, but I use it as a tool in my TOPS group to help motivate others:





    But to get back to the original intent of the post, I think it's a good idea to get rid of clothes you've out-shrunk so you have nothing to fall back on. Oh, and I also don't ever want to become delusional about my size again.
  • Like the OP, I can sew well by hand but better by machine so I took in a lot of the old clothes I had and threw them out once it got too wonky to take in anymore. I bought a lot of dresses and a lot of leggings for "in-between" stages since dresses are more forgiving and easier to take in. Dresses are also easy to layer up with a cardigan of some type, leggings and boots for cooler/cold weather.

    The only thing I have from my "fat" period is a pair of size 24 jeans.
  • I ridded myself of all my fat clothes. It felt very liberating to do so. I was wearing a size 22/24 and XL/XXL shirts. I have no clothes over a size 16 in my wardrobe. I even got rid of the size 22 jeans I had to remind me of where I was. But like Kat said, I trashed those because that is NOT me anymore. I went to H&M today and tried on a 40 dress (US 10). It fit. I never ever thought I would see the day where I could wear a size 10. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, two hours later.
  • HI,
    I made a quilt out of some of mine. It serves as a reminder of those dark days which for some reason motivates me to stay on track.

    Whatever works is the way to go. My friend keeps her and that is her way of reminding herself what can happen and moves her right away from dessert.

    Good luck to all in this journey.

    Sheridan
  • I plan on giving away my old clothes that will be too big for me. I don't have anything nice that needs to be tailored so I don't have to worry about altering anything. Well, maybe the shirt I have to wear for work. It's a 3X (my boss couldn't find any in 2X) so I guess that could be my before/after shirt to see how long I've come.