[Lori Bell]

This morning was a very emotional time for me. I waved goodbye to my past. All boxed up and loaded in the back of a pickup truck...gone at last.

For several years now I have been hanging onto my fat clothes. Boxes of them from size 8 through 30. Jeans, shorts, shirts and sweaters, PJ's swimsuits, dresses and coats. I decided to never get rid of them because of the many past experiences I have had with losing weight. I'd get rid of fat clothes and then have to hang my head in shame to go purchase more when I regained. Well, here is hoping that I haven't made the same mistake again!

The kids at school were having a clothing drive for the local agency that supplies low income families with food and clothes. The winning class receives a treat...haha Ice cream sundaes no less, (oh boy, don't get me started on that one!). Anyway, my son is sure to have his belly full today.

So I did it. I purged hundreds of items of clothing. Gone...but not forgotten.

[Beck]

Excellent! I bet it feels great to have done that- and it's going to a great cause.

[traveling michele]

That is great Lori. I can't believe you held onto everything for so long. Emotionally it sounds like you were ready to do this for the LAST TIME though. Congratulations!

[saef]

Lori, good for you. I'll bet that in a few days, you won't miss any of it at all.

You inspired me. I've had a bag with some clothes in it that I'd decided to donate to our hospital's thrift shop. The bag has sat in my guest room for more than a month. I had a quiet moment at work, and the weather was splendid, so I finally walked it over to the thrift shop. (I'm ashamed to admit that it's only a block away from my apartment complex.) It felt good to carry nothing back to my apartment but a receipt.

My problem is always this: I remember how much I paid for things. I see myself throwing money away. I have to go through a lot of self-talk about how the money was gone the moment I paid for the thing, that it doesn't matter how much something cost if I never wear it & etc. I read Brooks Palmer on clutter-busting & that helps me firm my resolution & do what I am supposed to. And also reading posts like yours where people set a good example for me. So thanks.

[tommy]

How timely - I have held on to a pair of black jeans and some black cotton slacks for a while - they fall off of me when I try to wear them. I got them out of the closet and onto the dresser where they have been for 5 days. They are not in good shape (as I stretched them out when trying to still fit into them) so they are headed for the trash TODAY! Thank you.

[Shannon in ATL]

Congratulations Lori! It was time to let go.

[Heather]

Congrats! I wanna know what you're gonna do with the extra space!!

[Karen925]

Congrats.

I did the same thing over Spring Break and thought the same thoughts. Will I regain again? I kept the next larger sizes in case I got ill and gained. At 124#, I would need to be sick for a long time to get larger than the clothes I kept. I would have to make a conscious choice to be fat again. I will not drift up blindly.

[Lori Bell]

Heather, it is nice to have more free space in the attic. You can actually walk around up there again now. I'd like to keep it that way, but I'm sure in no time something else will be hauled up there to take it's place! LOL

So, an update. My sons class did win the competition. So yay for them. But the way this thing worked was each thing was given a point value. Summer clothes were given more points than winter clothes, so this means that some poor faculty members at school had to go through ALL those boxes. My son said he heard teachers talking about it. lol

So, as some of you know, I work part time at school and I went in around 11:00 yesterday. One of the secretaries that had to go through my clothes came over to me and just said, "WOW, Lori, I never realized how far you have come." She apparently got the box of size 26-30 stuff to go though. (poor girl). I was a little worried about who would be looking through the stuff, (hoping it wouldn't be the "hot" gym coach...haha ) Thankfully it was her. Anyway, I did get a lot of comments which felt weird. Most of those people knew me fat, but there have been a few teachers come in that had never met me until I lost weight. So, yeah, it was awkward. I wish they didn't have to open the boxes, and went by weight or something...like they do for food drives. Oh well. I'm still free at last.

[caryesings]

Congratulations, I know this was a very big step for you.

[EZMONEY]

Originally Posted by Lori Bell

........ Oh well. I'm still free at last.

[shcirerf]

Congratulations!

I Don't have a very big house, so I can't keep stuff. I regularly toss or donate.

With the exception of one pair of favorite jeans, that I should be able to get back into in about a month.

[milmin2043]

This is just great Lori!

Do you feel that this was the final step for you in letting go of a different life? I'm not trying to get to psychological about it, just really wondering.