I need new work clothes but I'm making ends meet because of surgery next month... how did y'all deal with surgery so fast and your wardrobe? I have to wear professional attire and I'm worried about the constant drop!

I would look for a Good willor other such second hand store. They often have stuff for a fraction of the cost of new. Some churches also have clothing exchanges.

I also have to dress nice for my job, I had my bypass surgery 11/9/16 so I was fortunate, that I was able to where leggings all winter and went to Walmart or thrift shops and only paid no more than $5.00 on tops. I started at a size 22 and I am now a size 8. Before I lost all the weight I would spend a fortune on my clothes, now I go to the clearance racks only or Walmart and spend nothing and you know what? Everything looks great on me. Good luck just enjoy the ride, it is truly worth it. Now with fall coming I have no clothes, so I am going shopping and can not wait.

If you have some very nice things, you might consider finding someone to do alterations. I also have to dress professionally (more on the casual end, thankfully), so I will be scouting out thrift shops. I've only lost about 40 lbs off my highest weight so far and find that the leggings/ tunic dress combo is very forgiving (just like during pregnancy!).

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There is also something called a dress clip (a colleague showed me one years ago), with which you gather up some material in the back to make the dress a smaller fit. With a cardigan or jacket, it would be hidden.

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I just checked, (and added a bunch to my wish list), you can get them on Amazon!

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Thrift stores/resale shops are your best bet. I went from a 16/18 to a 4/6 in 9 months post-op. Thrift stores were the only way I could afford to keep up with the rapid changes. I recommend shopping on sale days for even better deals. I tried to anticipate sizes and shop ahead, and still had things I didn't get to wear because I blew past the size so quickly. I never paid more than 8.00 for a pair of jeans, so it wasn't a huge loss and they could be donated back,

I refused to shop at the thrift stores in the beginning, it took a $200 purchase (pants) at the Avenue and me growing out of the pants two weeks after...that finally convinced me to shop at a consignment shop. Bra's, panties, and shirts, obviously, I still pay regular price for. I've found a new web consignment shop Swap.com, I LOVE THEM!!!!

4 hours ago, RedOrangeSunrise said:

There is also something called a dress clip (a colleague showed me one years ago), with which you gather up some material in the back to make the dress a smaller fit. With a cardigan or jacket, it would be hidden.

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No way, I'm so proud of my loss. Forget the clips and get new and smaller sizes. Although, in the beginning, I would have loved this for my shirts. lol

I'm a nurse and my uniforms were falling off me, at first I didn't wanna buy new clothers but I went from 3x to x Large in 4 months, I bought Uniform pants like black, blue and white that I could wear multiple tops with. I ended up giving bags of scrubs away.

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I also need to dress professionally for work. Prior to surgery my standard uniform was black trousers (from Talbots typically - some of those pants lasted me 8-10 years!), a blazer/jacket and a blouse or shell. I almost never wore dresses or skirts.

Now I am wearing more dresses and skirts because there are more forgiving to size changes. I have a pleated midi skirt from Eloquii that is too big, but I wear a blouse and a wide belt and I can't tell the difference because the belt further cinches the skirt.

I am also finding surplice/wrap tops to be great - besides being very flattering, they are also more forgiving to size changes.

Right now I have 10 bags of clothing (mostly professional) for donation and am about to do another purge.

I keep 2-3 pairs of great trousers in my wardrobe that I buy on sale, 2-3 blouses and 2-3 dresses/skirts for workwear.

I have not bought any new blazers yet - mostly because it is summer, not to mention they are more expensive.

I have gone from a 24 to an 18 and seem to be changing sizes every 2-3 weeks.

Truthfully, when I was at my highest weight I was spending just as much money on clothes in a quest to find something that I thought "looked good" on me instead of dealing with that what I was dissatisfied about had nothing to do with the clothes and everything to do with my body.

Try Poshmark to sell your clothes and buy new used clothing!