Hello everyone,

I had my surgeon appointment on Jan 16, surgery on Feb 3, and since that appointment on the 16th I am down 33 pounds. No surprise that my clothes are starting to look too big on me, since I am down about 2 pant sizes. Fortunately, I have always kept some of my favorite 'someday when I lose the weight' clothes packed away, so I at least have something to wear that fits!

Now, here is the problem. In the past whenever I started a new diet and lost a bunch of weight, I still hung onto my best 'fat' clothes in case the weight came back. And of course it always did! But this time is different, right? I am still trying to wrap my mind around the concept that I don't have to keep the back-up clothes on hand, because the weight is NOT going to come back this time, as long as I am vigilant about eating properly and following the band rules.

Did anyone else go through this sort of clothing crisis?

It just feels strange to be so sure that the weight will stay off, since it never has in the past.

Even so, I have a big bag of clothes ready to donate to Goodwill, and plan to bid them all farewell today.

I'd love to hear your stories, if you've encountered this issue yourself, and how long it took to move beyond it.

thanks!

o.

I will admit that I have a shopping problem, so I love getting rid of my clothes and getting new ones! I haven't bought too may smaller sized clothing yet because I want to keep motivating myself to buy new smaller clothes. My goal is to be able to shop in a "normal" store! I will admit that it is hard getting rid of the larger sizes thinking that I will just gain the weight back and need them again. It has been that way my whole life. I can't wait to get to a small and steady size!

Congratulations on your weight loss!! It's feels great doesn't it? :wink:

I am getting rid of my 'fat' clothes and then shopping in my basement for clothes that I used to wear. This weight loss is forever in my mind, and I'm never going back. My entire way of thinking is different, and athough sometimes I still think like the fat person I was, most of the time food isn't such a big deal for me anymore. I've never experienced that with any other diet and that's how I know I'll never need my fat clothes agan.

I am getting close to running out of choices in my basement and a friend who has a lapband suggested that I search upscale resale shops for some good buys until I reach my goal weight. I have also done some clearance shopping, which I love and gotten some great buys.

I think you can be confident in yourself and your weight loss this time and clear out the fat clothes!!! They're not as cute as what you can wear now anyway, right???:thumbup:

These posts are great, thanks!!

Seems I'm not the only one who is still amazed that we don't have to plan on the weight coming back on, like we always did before....

I loved the comment about clown pants; that is how a co-worker described a pair I wore a few weeks ago!

They may have to go sooner than I thought they would.

Last night my best friend (who has a BMI of about 42 and is watching my lapband experience very closely) came over I tried on a boatload of clothes for her evaluation. Some things I thought I could work she said to get rid of; "that looks too big on you", or "by the time winter rolls around and you can wear that item again, it will be too big for you, so there is no sense saving it!" It was great, since it made the process fun. My favorite part was holding up a nice pair of pants saying 'I don't think I can fit these yet', but trying anyway and omg they actually did fit! Guess that qualifies as a NSV, huh? :wink:

I am happy to know the clothes will be put to good use by other people who need them, since keeping them tied up in storage totes seems like a foolish waste. As we worked our way through piles of clothes, it was crazy to see just how many things I had squirreled away. Bit of a wake-up call, to realize I have way too many clothes!! But I know it is because for so many years it has been easier (and cheaper) to get in the habit of keeping multiple sizes of clothing on hand, in order to accommodate the yo-yo dieting.

Thanks for trying to help me accept that things are different this time; I am finally feeling confident about that new reality. It helps to hear about how other bandsters have managed this aspect of their weight loss journeys! :thumbup:

I have been having this dilemma for the last few months........thanks for your input. To GoodWill they go!!!!

I have not read anyones response before responding to this thread.

The first second that I notice that something is loose it is gone.. Period. I don't want to feel fat anymore or wear something that's slightly too big. I used to ship out my clothes free of charge to other bandsters on this site but lately I have been donating them to my local charity.

I think I have had an addiction transfer since my band. I am kinda serious lol. I am fortunate my husband has a great job and can afford my addiction to shopping now. He doesn't eveen seem to care since I am way smaller than I ever was since we got together about 10 years ago.

I work for a major jean designer and so I kinda have a jeans fetish (Now that I fit in them) I have 32 pairs and 7 of them still have tags on them. 25 of them are size 12's and the other 7 pais with tags are 10's just waiting for me to wear them comfortably.

I refuse to keep even 1 size larger in my closet.

Update:

I have six bags filled and sitting by the back door!

They're going into the car tomorrow morning, then off to Goodwill and another person who really needs them.

It feels great to have that done!!

Thanks to all of you who told me to just get rid of them!

:party:

I still have all my clothes in all the sizes. I have always been afraid something would go wrong with my band and it would have to be removed. Now I have decided on my own to have it removed and get the sleeve. Once that is over with, I will get rid all those clothes. The sleeve is permanent and there is no chance of it slipping or eroding so I will feel like it's okay to be confident that I won't need those clothes.

There is a Clothing Exchange on The Lap Band talk site. Its a great way to help others with clothes that you no longer can wear. This is a great way to recycle your clothes with a fellow bandster :party:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/groups/clothing-x-change.html

I kept one pair of "fat jeans" and a t-shirt, just for comparison sake when I get to goal. The rest of it went to friends, the church clothes closet, and Goodwill. I'm not taking a chance on needing them again. If they are gone, I have to keep the weight off, I can't afford new clothes.

I hit the end of season clearances when stuff is marked down about 75% and try to buy "classic styles" that I can mix and match. I don't want to buy the expensive stuff until I am closer to my goal.

I hung onto my clothes for a long time. Infact, I didn’t even start buying new clothes until I was down almost three full sizes. Looking back, I probably went to work with sagging, loose clothing for several months without realizing it.

I went from a size 30 down to a size 24 one day at JCPenny’s and haven’t looked back since. I am now down to a size 16 and buy ‘cheap’ clothing because nothing lasts me more than a few months. Minus one pair of slacks, I have either passed my semi-old clothing to other family members or given it all to charity. The one pair of slacks remains in my house to remind me of the weight I’ve lost. Seriously, you can fit two of me in that pair of pants; sometimes I still try them on when no one is around just so I can see how different I am now. It always motivates me.

I think it is best to throw them out! I was so ashamed of gaining so much weight that I never went out and bought the bigger sizes. I have a couple of things, but for the most part I pretty much wear the same thing everyday. I usually wear a pair of sweatpants and a large sweatshirt (i've always tried to cover it all up). Wearing that much clothing in a New Orleans summer is horrible. I have come to realize that this will be the last summer I will ever have to deal with covering myself up in that way. I can't wait to have my surgery on april 6th, I am hoping that by my birthday in september I will be able to go out and have FUN shopping again. I have been waiting such a long time.

I am glad to see this thread because I have been in this same delima. I have sold a few clothes on ebay that were too big, but I have mostly kept everything else. It is almost like I am emotionally attached to my clothes and I can't get rid of them! I am even scared to buy new jeans! But after reading this, I realize that I am probably walking around in clown pants as well!

I had a box of clothing that used to fit me when I was at my thinnest after a fad diet about 8 years ago. Once I lost all my weight with the band I took out the box to see if anything fit. Well nothing fit because they were way to big on me. That was when I realised that I will never be fat again and threw out all my fat clothing (including what was my previous skinny clothing!)

I kept mine for a LONG time...mostly because I didn't have others to wear so went around wearing clothes that were WAY too big. Eventually, I started to buy a few smaller articles, and purged my closet of everything else. I bagged and boxed them and gave them to Goodwill. Since then, and as I continue to buy smaller clothes, I toss clothing monthly....well, not toss it, I donate it to either goodwill or a local women's shelter.

I can't get rid of them fast enough!! I have been going through my closet pretty ruthlessly every few weeks. I don't plan to ever fit in those things again, so have no desire to keep them around as reminders. I took one full length 'before' picture, and that'll do as a reminder of my pre-band size.

I'm fortunate in that I did keep my good quality smaller size stuff as I moved up in weight, so now I 'closet shop' by finding stuff in my closet that I hadn't worn for years that now fits again! (Patting self on back for buying classic things that don't go out of style!) I'm down two sizes and haven't had to buy very much yet, but am looking forward to shopping when I'm a size or two smaller still (goal).