I am considering buying a beautiful ball gown to wear for next year's NYE. Have you every bought a smaller-sized dress/outfit in order to motivate you to lose weight? Did it help you attain your goal or did it hinder it?

Over the years I've often bought stuff that is a little (or a lot) too small thinking I would soon fit into it. Usually It is a really good deal. Some of the stuff I am finally starting to fit into and am wearing now. Some stuff I skipped right over and it never fit. I guess this has been both good and bad for me. Right now I am trying to be much more selective overall in what I buy so I am trying not to purchase things unless I have immediate use for them.

As for your ball gown I would not consider it unless you were getting a really good bargain and it won't bust the budget. If it is full price maybe print a picture and keep that somewhere you will see it everyday. Even if you do buy it now, you may get down to size and it just doesn't fit right or you may no longer like it next year. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Inexpensive dresses or pants are one thing, but I probably wouldn't buy something as expensive as a ball gown for motivation. After all, even when you get to goal weight the dress might not look good on your new, fab body. Or your tastes may change or it may feel out of style. Save your money.

I don't do it as I have found they don't always fit as good as I thought they would or didn't look as good as I thought they would.

I had a pair of DREAM jeans that I bought years ago thinking they'd fit then, they never did but hung in my closet where I always gazed at them wishing I could wear them.

Well......guess what?!! They FIT now!!! But they are like 8 inches too long which means even with heel boots, they look ridiculous.

So while I'm so glad I can finally get my thighs into them and button them, they are absolutely no good to me now.

I'd hang a picture of your dream dress on your bathroom mirror, your fridge, anywhere you can for inspiration. But I wouldn't buy it until the last possible moment so you will look absolutely dashing and fitted in it!

Great post, thanks for starting this.

I think you should wait. Inexpensive clothing is one thing, but ball gowns are expensive. Plus you never know when the trend might change and you may not like it anymore

I have before but never fit into them or by the time I did they were dated. Not for me. I will wait and buy what fits as I need them.

I didn't do it. My shape changed on the way down so the clothes I would have bought wouldn't have looked good on me anyway.

The only thing I really did was buy smaller if I was inbetween sizes because it made more sense to do that.

I did have some summer clothes from middle school lying around that I was able to fit back into (thus saving me $$$ that summer!). Otherwise I bought clothes as I went down

I haven't bought ahead yet. If I stumble across something I love that's a great deal, I might. I don't want to spend much on clothes until I get to my goal weight/size, and I'm not really sure what that will be yet.

I've come to realize that there will always be stylish, well-fitting clothes offered in the future, often on clearance. Clothes go out of style, personal tastes change, and it can be extremely difficult to predict how specific pieces will fit once your body changes.

Something I hadn't counted on is that losing weight has affected the way clothes sit on me, length-wise. I bought an awesome leather biker jacket at Goodwill that was a little small for me at the time, and throughout the pounds I've lost it never did fit me properly. I ended up donating it when the circumference was big enough to look comical on me. Something similar happened when I bought a lovely hoodie that was slightly too small that ended up shrinking in the wash! I never could wear it after that; by the time the length was ok on me it was too big around. And it now sits in my closet, waiting to be taken in so it can fit properly (I'll get to it one of these days, lol).

I love finding ways to motivate myself but basically gambling on "future" clothes isn't one of them anymore. To be fair I have held on to too-small items in the past when they were given to me as gifts, but I'm done with trying to guess what my body will look like next month, next year, etc.

I've done this before and it's been a bit hit or miss for me too! I'd be tempted to buy a gown for next year only if it was a bargain and also a classic style that won't look dated by the time you get to wear it :-).

The problem is it's kind of hard to judge what will be flattering and what you'll feel comfortable wearing once the weight is off and also exactly what size you'll end up fitting.

I look forward to buying clothes as I lose weight, not before. As others have said, you never know how something will fit or what will suit your body as you lose weight.

I just ordered a pair of jeans online on Black Friday. They're in my current size, but I've yet to take the tags off or wear them because there's a 90 day return policy and I'm secretly hoping to slim down to a 4 in the next month or so. Haha

I can see the reasoning behind the idea: I bought a 2x hoodie on my vacation this summer (on the way home, when I had made up my mind that I was going to change). I had this picture of wearing it at Christmas. I don't fit it yet. I don't regret buying it. It's a souvenir of an amazing trip, a big decision and a happy time in my life.

I say, if you're ok with spending the money and maybe never getting to use it, by the dress. I think you'll still be happy if you have to look for it a size or three down.

I have a pair of shorts that I bought that is smaller than my size, it was on sale and was the only size left, i really like it so I bought it. I can squeeze into it but it's really tight...that's the only thing that I bought that is smaller size but it doesn't work as motivation for me unfortunately even though one of my top reason to loose weight is too to look better in clothes.

I tried doing this.. bought lots of things when I was 240ish and I am now 193. I'm trying to sell the items now. They "fit", but it was mostly tops annnnd my boobs didn't shrink at all so they just don't fit right still. also a dress that now makes me look fatter than I am. So I think I'm done with that, lol