Wearing clothes before they are too big

I read Annies post about passing on clothes she no longer can wear and it made me think of what I have been going through since New Years Eve.  It all of a sudden hit me when I got in my closet and saw the bag with the nice pantsuit in it that I bought and never got to wear because I gained a bit too much weight for it.  I knew I had lost some as I prepare for surgery and decided to try it on.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it finally fit (I bought it more than a year ago).  Once I discovered this, I began thinking things like "I need to wear all the clothes I actually like because soon I will be too small".  Now that idea has shocked me greatly!  I mostly have ugly clothes I have had forever, shapeless pants, too many of which have places wearing in them from my thighs rubbing together.  I have plain of tshirts, many of which are patriotic ones from 2003 when DH was deployed and I went on a tshirt buying spree.  I have some boring dresses, and many bright things like shorts, shirts, etc. because I thought they were pretty in the store and then got them home to see how gari**** all looked together.  I only have a few things I actually like, one of which is a ballgown I wore to a military ball and to my sons JROTC ball.  Is it normal to feel like we have to find chances/reasons to wear certain clothes before surgery time?  I feel like I am going nuts thinking that I just don't have enough time to wear them enough times each LOL.

Oh man.. I can not tell you the bags and bags of clothes I have given away since July 2007.  In fact, I just sent 2 whole black trashbags home with my sister on New Year's Day that were full of size 14s.  I NEVER thought that a 14 would be too big for me!!  I have this thing about holding onto clothes though..  and I am also a lover of clothes, so I have lots of them.  I shop at Goodwill and thrift stores so I dont feel too bad about being a ClothesAHolic.  LOL  Trust me..  your relationship with clothes will change drastically.  It is a WONDERFUL feeling to go into ANY store and buy ANYTHING you want.  I cannot wait to hear about your clothing adventures!!  Just wait until you cannot decide what to wear because everything you have is cute and not shapeless and ugly.  

I didn't care enough about any of the clothes I had to worry about it but I did keep a lot of clothes I grew out of on the way up. So now as I am loosing, I shop in my own closet. I am boxing away some stuff I have grown out of to give away. Some will definitely be thrown away. I still have not gotten into any jeans and I can't wait until I do. I know if you really like what you have you can have it altered if you want to wear it in the future. Have fun with your weight loss.

I have some clothes to pass on to anyone interested in having them.  Most are 1X and XL tops and a few larger.  I also have some 18-20 and 20-22 bottoms.  I am planning on attending the meeting in Raleigh this month and can bring them to pass on.  Just let me know if any one is interested......Carrie

Congratulations on wearing that new pant suit.
Soon that will be to big.
The outfit I wore for my rehersale dinner before I got married I gave the skirt away but am having a hard time parting with the jacket.
I keep thinking I could get it taken in.
Then there is my wedding dress now that is going to be a hard one to part with.
                                                  Annie

Thank you all.  I have to admit, I still have a dress I wore to my 8th grade banquet (thinking it was like a size 12) that all these years later would actually look good to be worn again style wise...just without the little jacket.  I also have a dress I had made for a friends wedding, but never got to wear because the navy made it impossible for her to have the wedding when and where she planned.  I think it is around a size 20 or 22 so once I begin losing I plan to keep trying it on until I can wear it LOL.  My wedding gown is an 18 and I am not parting with it.  It is probably the one thing that I will keep forever even if it never gets worn again.  I often have dreamt of a vow renewal in a wedding gown, so maybe by our 20th I might break down and have it altered and wear it at a much smaller size where I like it even better!  I don't think I would pay to alter any of my other clothes, though.  I am too much of a cheapskate and much prefer to just get clothes from where our support group at the hospital bring in things as we each outgrow them and also buy things at the thrift store with an occasional new peice from a clearance rack at the discount stores.  I might just have to light some candles, make DH dress in a suit and us have a nice romantic supper at home in my ball gown before the surgery so I can say goodbye to it

It's sooooo normal to go through what you are dealing with. To be quite honest, I'm still holding onto a few favorites... Not because I think that I'll ever be able to wear them again, but because I really like them. I've also given some favorites to friends and donated others to a woman's shelter.

Be sure to enjoy some of the things that you have now, because soon, you won't be able to wear them anymore. But as Jennifer said, you may well become a clothesaholic like us... Like Jennifer, I get most of mine at thrift and second-hand stores, so it doesn't cost me much.

Like you, I had always thought I'd do a renewal of our vows, but I don't know that I'll do it in my original dress. I may see about digging it out soon to see what it looks like on a 'normal' size person. I never did like my wedding gown too much. Back when I got married, they hardly even made dresses for big girls and I got mine be 'default' instead of selection. It was the only thing available that would fit. I was showing someone photo of our wedding recently and they said how much they liked my dress and I commented that I never had liked it much. After talking about it for a few minutes, I decided that maybe one of the reasons I didn't like it was that it was the only thing available. Maybe I would have liked it better if I had 'chosen' it from one of many. Who knows. At any rate, I think I'll dig it out and try it on again and see if I like it better now.

Enjoy your lovelies and know that there will be plenty more in your future.

Hugs,

I have had a ..rough time turning loose of my old faithful clothes. But I know somewhere in this house there is a size 14... 40" bell bottoms from the 70's that I kept for the time I lost weight. I will have to dig it out. My daughters are afraid of what I will dig up to wear. I can now wear and it is alsmost to big......my leather fringe jacket from 30 years ago. I wore it proudly last night.  It was very hard to take my 4x and 5x  clothes to the goodwill. Then I had to take my 28 and 26 jeans away.  Now my 22 and 24's are going by by. And my 20 jeans are getting way to big. Like the others....I get most of my jeans from the goodwill and thrift stores. I hope after my hernia is fixed ...I can fit into the size 14 40" bell bottoms.  Good luck on the transformation to the new you. But it gets easier to turn loose of clothes that is to big.
Myrtis

Oh Myrtis!  When you can wear those jeans, you have just got to take a pic of you in them with the fringe jacket.  I can imagine it since I knew those clothes too well growing up.  I even remember fondly constantly stealing my Moms suede fringed jacket with excuses from it being cowboy day at school to just not being able to find my jacket and the bus would be here any minute LOL.

OMG...I can't imagine wanting to keep anything that I own if I ever shrink. My clothes are so old and yucky. I feel terrible about myself and hate trying to shop for new ones so I just continue to wear my yucky ones. It seems like all the plus size clothes now are made tight fitting and the shirts are all short as to where my stomach hangs out the bottom. Pants are made with low waists so that my mess hangs over the top. I am a teacher and at my school our dress code is dressy/casual but definitely no jeans. I just feel terrible everyday going to work. I know that there are some places that have nicer things for plus sized people but they are out of my price range at the moment. You know I have clothes that I wear to work that are 5 years old. I told my husband that it will be a shame when one day I am teaching and my clothes turn to dust. If I do get approved for the surgery and lose this extra person I will dump all of my clothes happily and not think twice about it. If I should change my mind some day down the road I will have to go for another psych. eval. because I must be crazy... !