Am I crazy to plan to throw it all out again?
 

I am not sure I will ever get back down to the few size 8s, but I should be able to wear 10s comfortably when I get back down to the weight I hope to maintain.

But... in the meantime I need (and have needed) to buy new clothes so that I don't go naked.

I plan to donate them as soon as I lose weight - just like I did the first time. But part of me thinks that's crazy. Yet, I need to believe in my head that I will NEVER get this big again.... or is that just foolhardy?

Do you have any consignment stores near you? I've been spending my winters in Florida and oh my those stores are so great and a lot of them have the added bonus of contributing to charity. Get what you need to get through a few weeks and then donate them back.

I kept a few pairs of 16s even after I was back down to 10s because I anticipated needing them if I had a second baby (which I did - have a second AND need "fat pants" for work after he was born).

Now, as I go down in sizes, I donate everything. I will never let myself get that big again, and in the very remote chance that it does happen, the clothes I have now would be out of fashion and I'd need newer stuff anyway.

I vote for getting rid of fat clothes. For me, if I have a bigger size pants in my closet, I know I can get lazy fopr a couple of weeks and not end up squeezed into too small clothes. It keeps me honest and on track. YMMV.

I hit 152 and started getting rid of clothes.I kept one bathing suit thank god.I recently got back to original weight.My stuff still fits thank god.i heard you need to buy new clothes every 30 lbs.once I hit that and keep it off for a week or 2 I'll donate clothes.ill only buy just enough for 2 jeans and enough work pants to get through till I hit goal.i have a drawer of clothes that will fit once I loose.

I vote for getting rid of them!

Mind you, I did the same the first time I lost weight a few years ago. It was annoying to have to buy new clothes when I re-gained, but at the same time, it was motivating. Not as motivating as I'd like, as it took another couple years for me to realize I needed to lose weight again, but motivating nonetheless. If you think it will keep you on track, then do it.

This time around, the only item of clothing I'm keeping is the largest pair of pants I ever owned. I want to be able to pull those on one day for one of those awesome before-and-after photos! I also held onto all my smaller clothes, which has been awesome because I now have like 6 pairs of jeans that fit.

I just put all my bigger clothes in the garage...so they are out of easy reach BUT if I ever need them, they are out there somewhere...there are no terrific consignment shops here and it's also more expensive to buy clothes here too so I really have the habit of never, ever throwing anything away....but it helps me to just put them out in the garage, out of sight and can't fall back on them easily

I think Alaskan's idea is good. In the past I've discarded larger clothing and always ended up regretting it, sadly. I think keeping one plastic tote of classic styles on hand is not a bad idea, until at least you've maintained your new low weight for a significant amount of time (2+ years?). Recently I've been wishing I'd saved some of my older jeans especially. I feel like while I can fit into my largest pairs, they are like sausage casings and I so hate to buy new ones. For some reason I also hate buying used jeans, not sure why, since I love thrift shop tops and dresses.

Certainly not crazy!!

I have really debated this for myself, having gone up and down the scale plenty of times. I compromised and kept only the clothes that I liked or were expensive. I kept some dress jackets that I needed for work.

I finally have a little confidence that I won't get back to my highest weight. The high point of my weight bounces keeps lowering. I get myself in hand before I gain back all of my weight. Therefore I got rid of all but a couple of pieces of my highest weight clothes. They are my "before" clothes to remind me that I never want to get there again.

I imagine that I will always keep one size up but hope to get the confidence to get rid of the rest some day.

Don't give up the hope you will fit in those size 8s again! I have slowly regained ~30 pounds over the last few years, a slow but steady frustrating experience. I'm not giving away the size 6 and 8 pants I bought, though I did have to buy all new 14s this winter because THOSE I DID give away. Sigh. Curse my body that gained 4 sizes over 30 pounds.

But I'll never give up! If I got there once, I can get there again, and as far as I'm concerned, I'm MORE likely to fit that size 6 at a higher weight, bceause I've maintained a big loss for a long time now. Keep that in mind, if you hav ebeen active long term when you weren't before, your body will be different for it.

Do you think you worry too much about the future? No one knows what will happen then. You can only control the future by taking care in the present.

Worry about the future? How about plan for the future... Future gives hope. THAT'S why people look towards the future.

I look back, forward and present - I try to learn from the past, do in the present and plan for the future. It works for me and helps me... And I'm not talking about 1 year or 2 years down the road, but a month or two tops.

I think I might save a few things - just in case, but not much - like one bins worth of stuff to put in the basement - like my favorites. I'm lucky that I had a few things left over - I was saving them to sell as they were too good to donate. Saved me some money!

But I also don't want to have the mentality of "it will happen again". I'm trying to set up systems so it doesn't happen again.

re:
 

In my opinion, get rid of them.

I went up a size and the thing that kicked me back into gear was shopping for the higher size, since it felt so incredibly awful.

I just went through this yesterday Vex. I needed to buy a new sports bra and some new fitness clothes as NONE of the stuff I have fits, of course. And it did feel awful - way awful.

Too good to donate?

Ok, that was poorly worded. I donate a LOT. and I mean A LOT. What I meant was, I could try to recuperate some costs with selling them. I am not a money tree and if I can get enough money for an item to make the effort of trying to sell it worth it, I will do so.

Can I ask where you sold yours? There's no consignment shops in my area and I've been considering eBay. My clothes aren't exactly "name brands" so many shops and online resalers don't accept them - even if it is a twice-worn $80 Dress Barn dress! I have a few items like this I only wore a handful of times. I plan to donate everything else, but, like you, I need the money to reinvest into my new wardrobe!

I need to do something soon because my closet is over-run with clothes - half of it is stuff that's too big that I put aside to donate or put in my "fat/skinny" clothes bin or sell, and I just haven't decided what to do yet. I can hardly close the closet door anymore haha

I got rid of all of my bigger clothes when I first lost all my weight and now I've gained some back (after I swore I wouldn't). I decided not to beat myself up about it but just took my lack of clothing options as motivation to get back on plan and fit into all the beautiful clothes that are hanging in my closet. I'm refusing to buy anything new right now and am trying to make do with what I've got.

I honestly don't know what's the right answer.

I just do ebay or a local consignment shop here in town. I buy higher end clothes. Well, I should specify - not REALLY higher end, but not Target or cheapo stuff in quality. They just wear out too fast. I'm either extremely hard on my clothes, or they are truly made poorly.

And the stuff I am selling are boutique type clothes.

I didn't keep my biggest sizes, but I did keep very nice things in 1-2 sizes larger than maintenance.

That was my plan. I had saved a few 12s for that reason (I was between an 8 and 10 and with a bit more work, I would have been in 8s except for dresses and tops because my boobs are too big).

BUT... I didn't expect I would lose control like I did and would go back up to 14/16 - depending on the brand and cut. THOSE sizes I will not keep around.

I just got rid of all my Big clothes except for pair of jeans I am keeping them to remind me how big I use to be. I went from a size 24 to a size 16. I buy a lot of my clothes at the Good Will store since I still have more weight to loose.

My plan for maintenance in the past has been similar. I got rid of all my very largest clothes and kept a size or two of slack for maintenance, during which I inevitably regained until I got back into a weight loss mode. This worked pretty well for a few cycles but this last time, I went off the high end of my range and finding things I owned that I could wear on days I went into work became a huge challenge.

This lack of available clothes did help spur me to action but it's true that not having anything to wear added to the train wreck of goings-on.

However, I believe things turned out for the best because I ended up retooling my approach to weight management. This time I am really putting the focus on finding lifestyle changes that are compatible with maintenance. As a result, I've been a lot happier during the (slower, longer) weight loss phase, which I hope will be pretty indistinguishable from the maintenance phase.

Although I hope things will turn out differently this time in maintenance, my plan for clothing is the same... pack up one or two sizes of slack and get rid of anything bigger than that.