I am wondering if anyone else didn't notice the weight gain. Like, you didn't notice that you slowly stopped wearing the green sweater because it stopped fitting, or the you started needing a new size in shirts one by one, but yet never actually noticed the that you were putting on weight.

I ask because I have recently lost 20 pounds. I never noticed I gained weight, but now that I have lost weight, I am starting to pull out things from the back of my closet that I have not worn in 2 years because they stopping fitting. Yet, with that being said, I never once went "Wow, I've gained weight and none of my clothes fit anymore". I just started buying bigger clothes. As I sit here, I am wearing an old sweater I used to wear all the time but have not worn in a few years and it got me thinking about how the scale kept creeping up, clothes stopped fitting but I never actually realized it.

I just kept going to the store buying larger sizes. I don't plan on doing that anymore.

I'm not a 20s something, but this is a good question for anyone really. And it's one I've asked myself because isn't not buying new clothes in the bigger size one way to help combat falling off the wagon?

I think, for me, part of the problem is that I didn't realize that vanity sizes were happening. Things would wear out and I would go to buy a new pair of jeans, well, that size 16 changed.... But somewhere along the way, I went up to 18 and then 20. I had this mental line in the sand of 22 for some reason and 300 pounds. Like I wasn't "huge" until I got to that size or weight. That was my rationalizing, obviously.

But yes, somehow I wasn't fully aware of gaining. I mean I was, but I didn't really care. I lays had a scale. And I always used it. I just gave myself permission I guess to exist as however I wanted - as long as I was healthy, it didn't matter? Right? How conceited and dumb I was!

Sometimes I think the best thing that happened to me was having my thyroid go out of whack and giving me daily headaches. It then scared the crap out of me (raised my BP, cholesterol, started having heart arrhythmia and blood sugar issues). now I will never be so unaware and dumb again. I will take notice if clothes start to feel tight. I will take notice if the scale starts to move and I will not buy larger sizes. Uh-uh.

I knew I had gained weight but somehow it never registered just how much. I can't believe I let it get this bad! I put on 50 pounds!

My weight gain was so gradual over 9 years, that I didn't notice it. With clothes, i've always had 2 sometimes 3 different sizes at the same weight. So anytime I had to by something larger I just assumed it was the difference in sizing. The mirror and our minds tell many lies xD.....I mean, I knew I wasn't skinny, but I saw myself as just a bit chubby...even at 350 pounds

I knew I had gained, but honestly didn't see myself all that much differently in the mirror, but looking back, it was a ridiculous amount of weight.

I knew I gained weight, but I guess I refused to acknowledge it. I just kind of stopped wearing the things I used to, like the op said, and I just bought new things.. and they didn't fit TOO much better because I was in denial about being a size 20 and I blamed a lot of it on sizes changing.. Again, denial. Now that I'm losing I'm finally getting to wear things I bought YEARS ago that I thought were really cute that I got too big for before I could even wear them. On the bright side, I don't have to buy a new wardrobe when I lose a size.. but on the down side, it just reminds me of how delusional I was about my weight gain. It astonishes me that I let myself go so much, and how easy it was to pretend it wasn't happening.

You know this is something I've been pondering for quite a while. Didn't I notice my weight gain? Why didn't I stop it?

I was always chunky as a kid, but maybe just overweight at the most until I got into high school. For some reason I gained a lot of weight and wound up in size 18s so I was likely over 200lbs. I remember things not fitting anymore and having to buy larger sizes, but I think I for some reason just dismissed it as me growing (in the wrong direction though!).

I started exercising in my junior year and managed to go down to 200lbs and to a size 16 by my senior year and a 14 at some point in college, so I've been shrinking for some time now.

Because of that I don't really have all that much that I could suddenly fit into (and nothing now that I can fit into that I haven't bought recently). I did have things I could fit into when I was going back down into 16s and 14s, but not much. Luckily I did have some stuff from middle school lying around that I was able to use last summer when I began this leg of my losing adventure. I remember wearing them and thinking: "holy crap I remember wearing these shorts when I was 14 and thinking I was so fat...now I think I look great."

It also took me some time before I fit into the dress I wore my first dance in high school (that I wore once and then could never fit into again). Now it's too big, but considering that I had to lose a lot before I fit into it, it makes me wonder just how much weight I gained.

yes, I would notice. I never felt bigger, but I knew. In the back of my mind I knew and I would look at some of my clothes with guilt and fear because I knew they did not fit...thank god that is not the case currently...slowly everything i have put aside is coming back to my piles.

I was in full on complete denial. I would just switch clothes so often that I wouldn't notice.

It wasn't until my 18's were too tight that I broke down and decided enough is enough.

Kind of. I bought a weighing scales a few months ago, and watched it going up but it still didn't really register with me which sounds crazy but I guess I was in denial.

I saw an older picture of me and had to ask if it was really me. I truly didn't see it. I thought I was heavy but never saw me being as large as I actually was.

I remember showing my husband a skirt that use to be big on me. I put it on and could barely zip because it was so tight. I literally was shocked because I thought my body would fit. In my eyes, it was always the same size.

To me, this is proof that all eating disorders have similar symptoms. I saw a show on an anorexic and kept thinking...can't she see how skinny she is? I realize now that I had the same problem...when I looked in the mirror, I saw a smaller person that WASN'T THERE.

This has been an issue with my weight loss because when I see myself now, I don't see much difference from what I thought I looked like. See, in my deluded eye, I always thought I was this size (and clearly wasn't).

My prayer is that I see myself for what I really am. That in itself is motivation.

Nope I never really did notice - until I looked at pictures and then I saw it. I was always the one behind the camera so I never saw a lot of pictures of myself.

There's also a lot of lbs you can wear between larger sizes, so you can creep up and still be wearing the same stuff. For example, you can be wear a 22 at both 250 and 280, so it just plays head games with you.

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I noticed like every pound, but I chose not to pay attention to it...I was so distressed about other things. Now looking back, since I decided to change my career path (not sure what it is now) I sorta regret what I sacrificed, including my weight to pursue my old career goals.
That being said, its OK, now I know to pick and choose carefully what my priorities are.

I did notice that I gained weight, primarily because a lot of people told me. I knew I was gaining in numbers but I didn't actually see the difference in the mirror until I had gained at least 30 lbs (which was when I didn't really recognize my face anymore). I stopped wearing clothes as soon as they were less comfortable, so I rationalized it with "I'm bloated today" or "I ate so much yesterday!" and then never wore them again after I did that a few times. It's really ridiculous how you can fool yourself like that