Clothes

I am not. Even 2 weeks out of surgery yet but I was wondering when is a good time to go through your clothes.  Should I just pass them off to someone else or should I pack them away.  My feeling is to give them away but I also know that I'm conditioned to save them just in case I should regain the weight.  What have you done? Any suggestions?

I donated a bunch of stuff to Salvation Army and got a tax write off in the process.

I am 10 weeks post op and I just went thru my clothes.  I couldn't stand how big they were anymore.  I have a friend who is going thru them, taking what she wants and the rest will be donated.

I waited just so that I wouldnt' have no clothes left.  I bought a few pairs of shorts for the summer and I had a few tops that were too small before, so I can finally wear them.  I am not overdoing my shopping since I hope not to be in these new clothes too long either!!! :D 

Good luck!

I was a little more cautious than the first person.  But I was so successful that my journey of weight loss only lasted about 6 months before I hit goal.  At that point I packed it all up and donated it to a local thrift store that donates all profits to Alzheimer's research.  So far they have never had a year where they have donated less than $200,000.  In total since opening they have reached the $2,000,000 mark.  I supported them by buying clothes from them as I lost weight and then by donating all that I was too small to fit into.  That was about seven months ago and I have not yet gained a pound back.  I figure that if I did gain a little I could always go there and buy something that fit me.  So with them as a back up plan if I ever did need to buy something I felt very confident and comfortable donating what I had accumulated over the years.  It felt great to unload two garbage bags full of clothes.

"if you do what you have always done,you get what you have always gotten."

 

I also used to save clothes that were too big...just in case. i feel like that gave me "permission " to gain some.After weight loss surgery, as soon as something was too big,it went to goodwill,asap.

 

I didn't want to give my self "subliminal" permission to gain.

 

GL

I keep all my cloths for the regain from all diets.  When I was banded I still didn't give ANYTHING away.  The band was reversible right? (not ever 100%)

This time with the help of my therapist, all the 22-28 are already donated to salvation army.

Hi Beadle,

I went through my clothes about 3 months out and gave away all my business attire to a women's shelter (I'm retired from the work force)  They need nice clothes to go on interviews, etc.  I did keep some of my favorites and did a lot of taking in, remodeling, re-purposing.  Then about 6 months out, I went through things again and gave away bags and bags of things that didn't fit.  Again, at about 9 months out, I did the same thing -- donated bunches of items and finally bought myself some new things.  I didn't go overboard doing that, though........there's still more weight to lose.  Now, at 11 months out, some of the new things are already too big, but I'm taking them in. 

My mindset was to save my clothes, too -- thinking they would make a nice "show and tell" about the changes in my sizes.  I did keep a couple of things in my largest sizes -- for fun mostly, but gave away as much as I could because I will not allow myself to gain back that much weight. 

Truly, I do understand where you're coming from -- but trust me.......you won't wear those clothes again if you stay on plan and work this wonderful tool we have.

Don't rush yourself into doing this, however.  It's hard and right now you're in the healing process, going through so much in the way of emotions, hormones, etc., that doing something you're not comfy doing right now is only going to add to your stress level.  There's an upside to waiting, too........you get to see how much you're losing in inches if not in pounds.  Finding yourself in clothes that "hang" on you is fun....at least I thought it was :-)

Good luck.............keep posting........it's very helpful to get (and give) the great support that is available here.

Ree

 

I have always been a saver- as evident by the multiple sizes in my closet. This time I have cleaned the closets. Passed a lot to friends having the sleeve. Because your size changes so quickly you don't want to be continuously buying new. It was hard to not go to the plus size and to buy clothes a little snug because shortly they will be baggy. I bought pointe knit pants because I could wear them as my size adjusted. 

I started purging my closet at about 3 weeks out. Gave the clothes to a rescue mission thrift store. They are in the same parking lot as the school I work for. I also have shopped at thrift stores as I have shrunk. It is much cheaper that new stuff for a temporary wardrobe. Happy purging.

I plan to keep one pair of my largest pants and one of my largest shirts. I have "before" pics in them... and later at goal I want to put them back on and take a new pic... so I can TRULY see the change.

 

Everything else is going to be donated or tossed as soon as it starts falling off my butt and flashing people in public!