Before I was banded, but after I'd set my date, I bought one shirt from a normal-sized store that I LOVED, and said I would use it as my "inspiration item". It was super cute, and marked down to like $20, so I figured - what the heck. If I can get there great, and if not - well - I'll know it wasn't for lack of inspiration!

During the last 2 months my "inspiration item" has become an "inspiration wardrobe". I can't help it. I see all these cute clothes I've wanted to wear for so long, and I can finally think "Someday!" instead of, "Yeah right!" and I just can't help but buy everything up.

I don't even know if I'll ever get down to the sizes I'm buying! (I hope so, because they're still larger sizes, but still so far away).

Today my co-worker wanted to exchange some stuff she'd bought at Old Navy so I went along, and walked out with three bags of my own. I couldn't help it.

Losing weight has definitely kicked me back into my old "clothes whore" habits.

Losing weight has definitely kicked me back into my old "clothes whore" habits.

You say this like its a bad thing :guess ENJOY !!!! ENJOY!!!! ENJOY !!!!!! You deserve it.

I was doing the same thing! I finally told myself no more unless it's a really good deal or comes from consignment/thrift shops. But isn't it fun!!! Wish we lived closer! We would be deadly!

lol i love to shop too and i have been at my current size for about 4 months and I am so ready to start dropping again.... I am glad that i didnt buy smaller clothes my tastes have changed and they way things fit me is different than i would have thought

plus this way i get to wait for the next clothes swap to get smaller sizes for FREE!!! YEAH ME AND MY CHEAP FRUGAL ASS!!

A fellow lap bander sent me some of her clothes that didnt fit her any more and I have felt like a princess ever since in all the AWESOME clothes that she mailed to me.. man this lady has GREAT TASTE in clothes!! ( thank you again ... you know who you are)

I did the same thing...couldn't resist the clearance racks. Unfortunately, I ended up with a lot of clothes I never wore because by the time their season came around again, I had lost too much weight.

Now I'm a thrift store stalker. We have several within driving distance and I haunt them like a crack addict looking for a fix. But they have great sales and I bought two like new Talbot's shirts yesterday for $4.00 (total).

The one shop benefits a women's shelter, so I donate all the clothes I can no longer wear to them.

I can't wait till I can shop at a "regular" store. With my budget, Wal-Mart would be a plus! I am tired of on line shopping! I did buy a couple pairs of jeans- one short and one long - in a size i haven't ever seen at Walmart a couple weeks back. They sit on my shelf and every once in awhile i try to get them on. The pile of clothes in my closet that are too big keeps growing and what is in the closet left to wear is less and less. I was trying to not shop for awhile till I drop more but I may have to or not have any clothes to go to work in! I don't mind wearing shirts that are too big but there is a limit to that too! Also my favorite jeans started to slide off by themselves when I put my car keys in the pocket! Bye bye jeans!

Heck of a problem to have !!!!:mad: :Banane04:

There are few thrills like the first time you are able to walk into a "regular" store, take something off the rack, put it on and have it actually fit. (Except for the second time you do it. And the third. And the fourth...)

The last time I lost a lot of weight, I bought a bunch of stuff, but I learned that for me it's better to limit those kinds of purchases because when the time came to wear them, they still didn't fit right. My "new" body wasn't proportioned quite the way I thought it would be. At 5'7" and 140 pounds, I still had a 32 inch waist and was praying every night for my boobs to shrink to a B cup. It was frustrating that I had all these clothes that I couldn't wear because they just didn't look right. And after years of looking sloppy and wearing outfits from Omar the Tentmaker, it was all of a sudden important to me to look good in my clothes. Go figure. :Banane04:

i have been doing the same thing. but dh made a good point. he said "you don't know what style is going to look good on you. what if you buy all of this and end up looking like hell?" blunt, but correct.

Before I was banded, but after I'd set my date, I bought one shirt from a normal-sized store that I LOVED, and said I would use it as my "inspiration item". It was super cute, and marked down to like $20, so I figured - what the heck. If I can get there great, and if not - well - I'll know it wasn't for lack of inspiration!

During the last 2 months my "inspiration item" has become an "inspiration wardrobe". I can't help it. I see all these cute clothes I've wanted to wear for so long, and I can finally think "Someday!" instead of, "Yeah right!" and I just can't help but buy everything up.

I don't even know if I'll ever get down to the sizes I'm buying! (I hope so, because they're still larger sizes, but still so far away).

Today my co-worker wanted to exchange some stuff she'd bought at Old Navy so I went along, and walked out with three bags of my own. I couldn't help it.

Losing weight has definitely kicked me back into my old "clothes whore" habits. :Banane04:

I'm lovin' ebay! It's saving my life. I picked up a couple of tank dresses that I can put with a sweater and they only cost me $5 brand new with tags! One was from Macy's and had originally sold for $109.99. LOVE IT!:clap2:

At our local bandster support group meeting the other night and one guy whose wife was going to be banded soon asked if the counselors had seen the food addiction being replaced by other addictions, such as smoking or drinking, once people were banded. Others chimed in different addictions such as drugs and gambling but no one was responding until someone said shopping and then lot of women in the group raised their hands and laughed!

well i am a total clothes purse accessory addict too. the only caution i have to give is......try not to buy to much thats TO SMALL! i did the same thing and i have a WHOLE wardrobe of 14's that i cant wear! i am only one size above them but i defintially feel some bitterness towards them that they are mocking me from the tubs they are stored in, in the spare room!!

:speechles :speechles :speechles

the lowest i got with banding was where 70% of the 14's buttoned. i havent had restriction in EONS like over a year....(1 yr and 5 months to be exact) :hungry: and well lets just say i gained. i have been taking off what i gained back but those 14's feel like a pipe dream these days!

one thing that got me to what i do now is once those clothes started fitting atleast 40% of them had to be given away cause they werent a good fit (to short pants, sleeves to short, bust to small, shirt not long enough, a million things can be wrong with things once you get them on and zipped!) so now i only buy clothes that fit NOW. its tough but almost three years out thats whats workin for me now! we'll see whats works for me in 3 more years (maybe those 14's??)

GOOD LUCK WHEETSIN!!!

I know I need to quit buying. *sigh* I've always been this way. That's why I don't really need to buy. I buy a new wardrobe every damn type I drop a size, and I've dropped & gained sizes several times, so I know as soon as I hit the next size down I will already have lots o' clothes waiting for me... *sigh*

You guys are all very right. One of the things I bought was this brown dress on the right, because I've always wanted to be able to wear one like that, but haven't dared since I was like 20. That means the answer isn't quit buying. The answer is go buy the shrug they've layered with it, too -- then fit won't matter! :Banane04:

Hey if you guys want to exchange your larger clothes for smaller sizes check out http://www.sizexchange.com It will be launched in about 6 or so weeks but basically it is clothes exchange site where you can post your no longer needed clothes and others bid on them with points and then you can use those points to bid on other members items in the size that you need. I will post again when it has launched but if anyone wants to know more about it you can always private message me. and i will let you know as soon as we have launched.

I've been absolutely terrible! But I've made myself stop now because I never thought I'd get below an Australian 16, since that was always what I wore when I wasnt particularly overweight. But sizes appear to have changed since I was last "normal" and I"m in 16's already and almost down to a 14.

I just dont know WHAT size I"m going to be, its entirely possible I'll be a 12.

So I'm STILL shopping madly but for stuff to fit me now, I've stopped buying and putting away for later. But I'm glad I did that last year or I wouldnt have had much to wear, lol.

I have been on a designer shoe binge! I got some great deals on clearance and went high heel crazy! I haven't been able to wear heels since I put on all this weight 5 years ago and have been stuck in birkenstocks all this time. I'm jonesing to wear a nice pair of shoes, so I'm all ready when the time comes and I'm never going to take them off!! ENJOY your purchases.

Reminds me of a dream I had not too long ago. I was SKINNY and wearing cute, cute clothes. Most importantly, I was wearing high heels!!! (Probably has some supressed meaning - lol!)

Terry:)