Did you keep or throw out your larger waist size pants when you lost weight?

dbgfitness · September 5

Although I am wearing jeans with a smaller waist today, I have yet to throw out the ones that are too big for me. I don't know; maybe I worry about gaining back those lost pounds in the back of my mind. Are you saving your larger size clothes too?

clcomer01 · September 5

I plan on keeping mine. I lost about 40 pounds and kept it off for 4 years. When I remarried and moved I got rid of ALL my bigger clothes. Then I gain all the weight back and then some. This time I am keeping them all. Not because I am doubting myself, but because it seemed like bad luck. LOL

KarinSanden · September 6

I'm not saving anything that leads me in the wrong direction. Off with all big clothes as we go.

However some clothes is supposed to be oversized and they get to stay a bit longer.

Burn all bridges!!

SafariGalNYC · September 6

Nope. Good will. Adios fat pants.

serbob · September 6

Someone said to me once that if I wore the bigger clothes I'd eventually fit into them. Since I rarely weigh myself, my diet and workouts are mainly to keep me comfortable in my wardrobe. If I feel like a sausage I know it's time to readjust my habits. I either donated or altered my old clothing.

sassyladysjewelry · September 6

I am getting rid of everything that does not fit. I don't want it to be here for a just incase moment. I have given them to people in need or the salvation army for women. I don't want Goodwill to sale them I want to bless someone who really needs it.

AnnPT77 · September 6

No, didn't keep bigger clothes, other than a few for some sentimental reason, not because I plan to wear them again in current form.

Because I hate to clothes-shop with a horrible fiery passion, staying in the jeans size I have is part of my maintenance strategy. This isn't the only or main reason, just one factor, but I'm in year 8 of maintaining, after 30 years before loss of overweight/obesity. (Having to buy new clothes from the underwear on out, and shoes on up, even some jewelry . . . that was about the only penalty for weight loss, in my world. Every other aspect was beneficial.)

To me, saving big sizes "just in case" is like planning to regain. I'd rather make regain as difficult, inconvenient, and generally unlikely as possible, in any way possible.

Some of my big jeans specifically, I cut up for crafts projects. I gave other clothes that were in good shape to charities, and threw out those that weren't sentimental, crafts materials, or good enough to donate.

nossmf · September 6

I would save clothes one size category bigger, just in case of days with injury swelling, water bloating, illness, etc. Clothes that are two size categories bigger, adios.

mjglantz · September 7

I threw them out after a year at my goal weight. I still have a couple of sizes in my closet as weight does fluctuate but if I gain more than 5 lbs over my goal it's time to take it off.

Lietchi · September 7

I kept a single pair of pants, just to remind me of where I came from.

I got rid of larger items every time I shopped for smaller ones, to make room.

nuala3881 · September 8

I get rid of anything that is too big for me. It ensures that I don't have any wiggle room to gain back weight and *have* to keep accountable and consistent with my exercise schedule and food diary.

I understand the want to keep a pair or two of pants "just in case", but in my past experience it was the "just in case" pants that gave me permission to have all the extra food and skip all the workouts I should've been doing. If I was suddenly desperate for a different size pant for whatever reason, I'd look at Goodwill or sales at local stores I shop.

This is what works for me, YMMV.

Corina1143 · September 8

I hadn't cleaned my closets since I retired 10 years earlier. I don't need even 1/10th as many clothes in retirement as I did while working. I never knew what to keep and what to get rid of. I liked it all, and it was all good enough for me, but maybe not good enough for someone else. Losing weight made it so easy to just get rid of everything--no decisions. I now have 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of pants that are suitable for wearing out and about. All I really need. I have new shorts and leggings for around the house. One old shorts outfit that's way too big that I wear to mow the lawn and to remind me where I was 2 years ago.

cyncm · September 9

I believe it's a question of knowing and accepting yourself. I know my weight will be in a range and that's OK. So I kept clothes that felt good at the top of that range. I also focused on what I could not find easily again ( eg fine waled cords that are long enough).

LoganBennett715 · September 9

Well, first I was preserving it as a token of my achievement, but later I gave it to some charitable organizations as a donation.

Angietj1 · September 9

I have no intention of going back to my old size so as I grow out of them, I donate

girlwithcurls2 · September 10

Some of them are really nice and were expensive. I think I might take them to a tailor and have them made smaller. I made an international move at my biggest. I realized that I didn't have room to bring anything that didn't fit. So ALL of the clothes I had before I put this weight on were given away. I brought only things that fit. Now I've lost the weight (14 months later) and I have a closet full of trousers that will be too big when the cool weather starts. A good problem to have, but it will cost me a little to have them altered.

domip42 · September 10

Many people choose to donate or discard larger pants after losing weight as a way to stay motivated and make room for clothes that fit better. Others might keep a pair as a reminder of their progress. It ultimately depends on personal preference!

Tiffany083 · September 10

I'm currently a size 10. Anything that is 14 and up I get rid of. I like options just in case I gain a few pounds and if I get into a size 12 pants is when I start planning how to lose the weight. Any additional size up (unless for photos of progress) gives me personally the idea my weight loss isn't permanent.

HoneyBadger302 · September 10

The last time I was about to drop a pants size and go shopping again was when covid hit, and much of my life fell to pieces at the time, so I still had my 'fat' clothes (which were one size larger than I would wear at my preferred size).
Then, perimenopause hit hard and fast the past couple years, and while the scale only went up about 5 pounds (although flucuates wildly depending on the day), my pants were NOT fitting - at all. I actually ended up buying pants 2 sizes larger to be comfortable and not look like a sausage squeezed by tight rubber bands.
So, while I've started HRT, which is allowing me to sleep better and helping with many other symptoms, which also has me now able to get back to my workouts and have the willpower to get back to tracking my food, and my appetite is back to more normal - most of that is fairly recent, and the scale is thus far still wildly unpredictable.
So, for now, even when the weight does start to come off, I'll be keeping the fat pants for "those" days - like today. This morning my weigh in was (literally) 5 pounds heavier than it was yesterday, and a good 4 pounds higher than it has been in over a week. Overnight. No reason.
So, yes, keeping the fat pants for days like this.

aprilmerritt434 · September 10

I kept them all until about a year after I lost it all, then got rid of them. I decided I wasnt gonna have "fat pants" anymore. If my pants didnt fit me anymore, I'd have to get back on track. It worked for me.

spottedpony62 · September 11

I plan this time to toss them as I reduce. I might - might keep one of my biggest pair but the rest are history. I'm not planning on getting back to where I started - ever.

lemlin1967 · September 11

I made a point of donating to my local charity shop everything that is a size to which I would never ever be happy returning. Partly as I don't want a reminder of myself when I was 18 stone ( now 13 ), Partly because I am adamant that version of me is gone never to return and partly so that if I did put back any weight there is no easy clothing option available. I would have to go out and buy clothes I didn't want to buy.

This works for me but isn't for everyone. Some people would like to see and be reminded of how different their look is now. Or perhaps your weightloss tends to yoyo a little. I guess ultimately what works for you works for you.

PryorInc · September 12

Donated to a charitable organization. No need holding on the that mindset. I have no plans to ever use or need them again.

dlhollin1 · September 13

I have lost 43 lbs the last 18 months and have gotten rid of larger clothes as I have gone down in sizes. I don't get rid of them until they are to baggy and just don't look good at that point. I'm not cramming myself into anything tight either just to move down a size because I hate that feeling. It's a motivator to me to not look back and I refuse to go in the other direction. This wt loss journey is far to hard to play this yo yo gain it lose it gain it back game. I'm done with that bull, no looking or going back.

AdahPotatah2024 · September 13

I'm an 8 petite, sometimes 10...I need to throw them away, but I have one size 12 Lucky jeans from 13 years ago and still have a pair of size 5/6 Maurices jeans from 25 years ago that I loved to wear.

GinLee61 · September 13

Nope. Once they start to look like they're about to fall off me I donate them. I did keep one pair of the largest size I had to remind me how far I've come.

ponygirl416 · September 13

I still have my fat clothes after losing 40+. I have lost weight over the years and gained back. Now I am about to order the next size down for incentive, I suprised myself by getting in size 12 already. But i intend to get rid of the fat clothes, styles have changed , fat or skinny, time for a new look.