So I'm 2 months post surgery and I just started going through some clothes. I'm purchasing some cheap and inexpensive "temporary" clothes as I anticipate losing more before working on building a new wardrobe. It does feel amazing but time to board the realism train here for a minute.

I suspect most, if not all of us have lost and re-gained weight more than a couple times and we've been in this situation before. You throw away all your "fat" clothes and life is amazing and wonderful then one year later (arbitrary time frame) you find yourself back at the big and tall section.

Now, I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but I'm also a realist. I've spoken with so many people that do in fact admit that surgery is merely a tool and a lot of folks do gain weight back even after something as drastic as what we've all gone through.

As I continue to do the hard work of the mental aspect of your paths.... (just as all of you are doing) what are your thoughts on this subject? What goes through your minds when you are either boxing up old clothes and/or donating to Good Will? Some folks are mentally tougher than I am and perhaps this just doesn't cross their thoughts.

SO many say to donate and put it behind you, but I have lost and regained too many times to make a clean break! I am going to keep the clothes i truly LOVE (mostly professional wear) and give away anything that I dislike or can easily replace. I will just store them in a trunk or in the guestroom until I am SURE that I will not need them again!

I was the weight I'm now trying to get to for most of my adult life - I only gained the excess 5 stone or so in the last 8 years due to thyroid issues, stress, bereavement - and I kept my good clothes from before then. While I've been very overweight I found it difficult to get decent clothes so they're all cheap or frumpy and I'm throwing all of them out as I go down the sizes. I'm nearly back into my "good clothes" which is great. But if it was the other way round I still think I'd throw them away because otherwise I think I'd be "expecting" to gain the weight back.

I'm one of those people who never got rid of clothes, whether I got bigger or smaller (unless the clothes were like too tattered or too used).

So as I lost the weight after surgery, I had a whole bunch of clothes to "fit back into" at my disposal. As I sized out of my stash, I started buying new stuff, but didn't get rid of the bigger stuff. Hanging on to them was probably a combination not wanting to waste perfectly good clothes and sheer laziness from having to clean out my closet.

It wasn't until just last September (one month prior to my 2 year anniversary, which was almost 1.5 yrs into maintenance) did I finally bite the bullet, cleaned out my closet and donated them all. It was alot. Good riddance, I say. Frees up room in my closet for new clothes.

On another note, that giant pile of clothes that I donated included clothes that did in fact still fit me, but I got rid of them because I didn't like them anymore. Which is just one of the other beauties of being smaller: I can wear clothes that I actually like, not just because they fit.

Edited January 28, 20215 yr by ms.sss

In the past, through dozens of diets, I always kept my big, fat clothes just in case. Now, I believe that philosophy reflected admitting I would likely fail. I’m 6+ months post-op and am I’m donating too-big clothes as I get smaller. It’s a great feeling! I really want to keep to the mindset that this new way of life is not just a diet.

I only kept one pair of jeans from each size to stack on each other to take a picture. Otherwise - the fat clothes went.... good riddance. And I cut up the Lane Bryant card, too!

I had clothes from size 8 to size 20, size small to 2XL. The size 8s were because that was my “dream” size a few years ago when I was doing pretty good losing on my own...before I started gaining it back plus more and reached my highest weight ever! I didn’t have to buy a lot of clothes on the way down this time until I got too small for the 8s. I thought I was going to stop at a size 4 but now I’m in a 2 or XS. The last time I cleaned out the closets I gave away everything over a 6. It’s time to do it again. I have a friend who recently had gastric bypass so I gave her everything and told her to pass on what she didn’t want or donate the rest. She was thrilled.

I don’t keep many clothes long term (over 5 yrs) because My personality may outgrow that particular style.

I decided to donate the majority of my clothes that didn’t fit (body or style) to charity.

I gave the clothes I loved the most to friends and family (who could fit them) so I knew for sure they were well cared for and I could enjoy them from a distance.

I had a fat & not so fat clothing sizes that I switched out every few years. This time I’m donating everything. I don’t want just because they fit clothes. I’m working on building a simple wardrobe of only clothes I actually enjoy. Buying some more expensive items that have better durability and style that can last. I was always a bargain shopper and would buy whatever because it was cheap & fit. Now it’s my time to dress the way I always dreamed of.

I tend to hang on to clothes way too long so as my sizes have gone down from XXXL to XXL to XL over the past 6 months until recently, I could find things to wear. However, I am now wearing L shirts and I haven't been this size since college, so I have had to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. The good thing with the pandemic lockdown is that I can wear sweats every day and only clothes to work out in and maybe a few pairs of jeans to go out in public with. I'm not buying expensive stuff though- Walmart and Costco are fine for now. I'll save the more expensive things for later when my size is stabilized.

To answer your earlier question- I have kept a few of my fat clothes, gotten rid of a bunch of them, and will probably throw the rest out after I have proven that I can keep the weight off. Maybe I'll do another purge of the closet this weekend. It feels good to move past that long chapter in my life.

I had forgotten how comfortable jeans are when they don't have a big gut pushing them down all the time.

21 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

I don’t keep many clothes long term (over 5 yrs) because My personality may outgrow that particular style.

I decided to donate the majority of my clothes that didn’t fit (body or style) to charity.

I gave the clothes I loved the most to friends and family (who could fit them) so I knew for sure they were well cared for and I could enjoy them from a distance.

The "enjoy them from a distance" reminds me of the years when my son was in elementary school and I used to give all his outgrown clothes to a friend of his being raised by a single dad. Neither of the boys knew this but occasionally my son would see the other kid and say "Hey, I have a shirt just like X is wearing." I'd say, "yes, but remember yours is too small now" hoping they wouldn't come up with the idea to wear their "matching" clothes on the same day like girls might do!

On 1/29/2021 at 10:33 AM, Elidh said:

In the past, through dozens of diets, I always kept my big, fat clothes just in case. Now, I believe that philosophy reflected admitting I would likely fail. I’m 6+ months post-op and am I’m donating too-big clothes as I get smaller. It’s a great feeling! I really want to keep to the mindset that this new way of life is not just a diet.

I completely agree with this! We've all had the closet full of fat clothes that we kept during our various diets--but surgery is truly different and represents a new way of life. When I decided to have surgery, I saw this as my last chance and made myself a promise that I would NEVER go back to my old way of life. Also, I honestly think that it's extremely difficult to go back to the size we were before surgery, even if we do gain back some of the weight.

Excellent thoughts on this. Thanks to everyone. As I'm still only 2 months out of surgery, I just now started a "pile"

I had purchased a 4XL pair of shorts and a shirt about 2 months prior to surgery as I needed something to hold me over. Those are definitely in the pile of stuff to donate. A neat little milestone happened... I have a pair of jeans from 8 years ago, size 40 waste. I was comfortably able to get into those this week. Glad I hung on to those. As I stated before, the biggest fight/struggle/challenge to me (as i'm sure it is for all of us) is the mental. Luckily, most of us are seasoned battle veterans with regards to our weight. We are smarter, more compassionate and more resilient. I sincerely wish nothing but the best for all of you.

I’m actually purchasing jeans for the first time in years- like you billho I had forgotten they could actually be comfortable when you’re not trying to push this extra 100lbs into them. Who could have guessed, right?

1 hour ago, blackcatsandbaddecisions said:

I’m actually purchasing jeans for the first time in years- like you billho I had forgotten they could actually be comfortable when you’re not trying to push this extra 100lbs into them. Who could have guessed, right?

yep. It's been a long time since jeans were comfortable.