Good, Bad...NSV...

Iorns78

OK, I am down 34-ish pounds, I could not be happier, I am approximately to my pre-pregnancy weight...8 years ago. The gals at work have finally noticed I have lost some weigh (yahoo)!! My husband is loving the "new me" and has been extremely supportive.

So you may ask....what is the deal, actually, my clothing! I have lost all my boobs (from a whopping B to a negative A), I need new bras, I have no undies that fit with out looking like I crapped my pants...oh and I have no pants, shorts, skirts that fit! This is awesome, right? ...I have several more pounds to go, I am a hard full time working mother of two and I just can not afford go out and buy clothing, even as exciting as it is to be able to shop for smaller sizes!

So, what do others do? I feel like I am stuck in a spot, I hate wasting money on clothing that I hope, in three months, wont fit any longer but the 18-16 I have been wearing are extremely non-flattering (NO, I didn't crap myself), and are falling off even with my belt (I also need a new one of them).

Love my new body, not appreciating the cost. Anyone else feel this? Wish there was a "I lost weight" exchange for clothing.

mygrl4meee

Do you gave goodwill near you? Most my clothes thru this loss came from the 1.23 sale. Can get a few new things without wasting lots of money.

MsTru2U

Congrats on your loss! I understand how you feel.
I've gotten a lot of clothes altered. It's not overly expensive. Have you considered this option?

JTick

I leapfrog my clothing. I'm at the point where I'm small enough to go through sizes faster, and it gets expensive. I also really hate shopping at consignment stores...nothing about combing through racks for hours on end appeals to me. So, for example, right now I have two skirts. One black, one grey. The grey is a 16, the black a 14. The 14 fits great, the 16 I could get away with it in a pinch. So I'll keep wearing the 14, and purchase a 12. Once I'm moving out of the 14 and into a 12, I'll purchase a 10. So I only have two skirts at any given time, and just continue bouncing the sizes down. This isn't quite as expensive as trying to replace an entire wardrobe every time I go down a size.

It gets a little boring at times, but I'd rather be bored with good fitting clothes than have a million clothes that are frumpy looking. I'm also fortunate enough to be the same size on top as my mom, and she has several cute tops I've been borrowing. At my current loss rate though, I won't have that luck much longer!

JNettie73

Congrats on your loss so far. :flowerforyou:

I can completely relate in regards to the expense of buying new clothes when you have more weight to shed. It bothers me too. What I do is buy a few things that fit me but buy things that are on sale. Yes, it is still an expense but the cost isn't as bad buying them for full price. For example, I use those 15% off coupons that Kohls is always sending me combined with buying things on sale. I also find a lot of good deals at Old Navy on things like jeans, shorts and tees.

WranglerMichelle

Congratulations on the weight loss! I totally get what you're saying, though. I like to hit consignment shops for an inexpensive way to find "new" clothes. A lot of those clothes are in good condition and can be really cute for a low dollar amount. And you can even consign your too-big clothes and make a few bucks when they sell! Consignment shops are a lot smaller than giant thrift stores, too, so your selection isn't quite so overwhelming, and they usually stock quality items.

Have you tried thredup.com? It's basically an online consignment store. I've bought lots of things from there, and I LOVE it. Really reasonable prices for practically new clothes! You can shop by size, color, style, price range, etc.

KyleB65

I'm a guy but had a similar experience. Although for me, losing my "moobs" was a good thing!

As for clothes, yes, losing weight was a very expensive ordeal. Not only did I need to buy new clothes when I hit my target weight/size. I bought 2 sets of in between clothes!. Wore my 48" pants until I hit around a 40 waist. I was scared of putting the weight back on so I refused to give up my clothes! I was folding the seams over in the back and pining them to wear. Then wore 40's until I hit 36. So bought new 36" waist pants. Then I got into running. My pant size is now 32"!

I would have paid any amount of money at my largest to be able to wear a 32" pant size. So, I have no complaints! I'm way better off now than I was back at the beginning of my MFP days!

Francl27

I second goodwill if you have one. Personally I just bought clothes a bit tight and pretty much waited until I had to, and the only clothes I 'wasted' are a couple shorts and a swimsuit I bought last Summer... Basically I replaced my 18 jeans by some 14 shorts in the Summer, but still wore my 18 shirts, then bought some 8 jeans in the Fall (I'm in 6s now but the 8s still fit) and that's when I bought bras, underwear and tops (which will still fit at goal weight). And this Summer I'll need new shorts and swimsuit but I'll be pretty much at my goal weight anyway. I figure I'll replace all those 'a little loose' clothes anyway with things that fit better as I need to in the next few years.

I only buy from cheap places too - Target, Kohls when they have a sale plus 30% coupon (and give Kohls cash) etc.

JocyChan

Goodwill, and garage sales are right around the corner as well.

Otherwise if you sew at all, you can just take them in.

Lizzy622

Congrats. For the weight loss, you at least deserve brand new underwear that fit. Never buy those second hand. Pants, shirts skirts can be had at the Salvation Army or other thrift stores. I was also able to score some clothes at a Burlington Outlet store, $10 pants, $5 shirt. I'm in the same boat some of my pants are falling off and if I belt them I look like I pooped my pants. Good luck.

Alehmer

My wife is in this spot, we're trying to just buy small batches of clothes to keep her looking professional in the interim. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do, unless you can get a 'large batch' deal from your local tailor.

laurelthistle

I've had good luck with eBay and second hand stores. I've gone down 2 pants sizes and am just now completely phasing out my 16's for the twelves I've recently gotten. I wore the 16's until the absolute end though, so that I didn't have to spend money until I absolutely had to. I even went so far as to hook the waistband with a paperclip from the button hole to the first belt loop to tighten them up. It worked pretty well for a while - until I couldn't zip them up anymore because of the extra fabric and a friend at work told me the bunching up made me look like I had a "fabric pen!s". That did it - I ordered some used pants off eBay that night!

FFfitgirl

Thrift stores, clearance racks etc. you need a few staples. Bag ladies is not a good look

seltzermint555

I understand as I've been going through something similar for the past year (I was size 22 for years and years, then gradually to 14 and now some of those are getting too big).

The secondhand tips are dead on. GREAT stuff can be found sometimes for cheap.

My best advice to you though -- don't go crazy replacing your whole wardrobe!!! Just buy enough to get you through feeling good about yourself while looking reasonably decent.

I kind of replaced EVERYTHING when I hit size 18 but I didn't realize how much faster I'd get into smaller sizes. So I had tons of nice (often secondhand) clothes in a size 18 that I only wore for a couple of months. At 16 and 14, I've kind of learned my lesson and bought way less.

I don't know if you work outside the home or what else you do...but seriously think 'capsule wardrobe', stuff you can mix and match all of the pieces as much as possible. If you're anything like I used to be, you are accustomed to having 10+ pair of jeans at any given moment. For awhile, you might only want to have 1-2 pairs of jeans in your "right now" size (for example).

I've taken it as an opportunity to buy less and enjoy it more. I find myself wearing outfits weekly or every 2 weeks instead of having a different ensemble for every day of the month. It takes adjustment but it can be done. And it will feel better than wearing stuff that is just too baggy.