While getting fit & clothes shopping

I buy what looks good for now. I am just trying to be really cheap and buy clothes that flatter or look ok on my right now.

As I've been going through this journey, I've bought clothes as I needed them. So I buy my current size. I have regretted that a couple of times when I only got two months out of a pair of pants. Now I buy clothes on the snug side - since I am feeling confident that I will continue to lose. The only exception is that I recently bought two short sleeved cardigans for the summer in a size smaller than I wear now. They were only $20 each, so it wasn't too much of a gamble!

Throughout my 20s, I bought clothes a size smaller because "I would be there soon." The only thing I was left with was a closet full of clothes that didn't fit! So I try to be careful!!

When I started in January, I made a deal w myself that I wont be buying any clothes until I lose a lot of weight (unspecified), as 14 pounds went by, I felt so good about myself, and my clothes were hanging off of me, and I realized a couple of things: (i) it really demotivates me to wear these baggy clothes and I need at least a couple of new nice things to feel good about the work I have done. (ii) Im in this for a while like until the end of this year, so it is totally not practical not to buy anything. And I braved it and ordered some clothes in a size smaller and they fit very nicely by the time they arrived and I feel so much better. They will make me feel good for the coming few months. I am still careful and try not to go overboard bc hopefully, they will be one season clothes.

I just had a wonderful evening with a good friend last night. She came over and hung out in my bedroom with me while I went through my closet and drawers and got rid of things that will NEVER EVER!! fit me again, figured out what I could still use, and what I could use in the future. (I've kept a lot of pieces I loved from when I was thinner)

Right now I'm doing a lot of clearance rack shopping. Most everything is 'in season' and fairly cheap. I try to buy pieces that are good for a 'mix and match' wardrobe in basic colors so if I shrink out of one piece the rest can still be used with another.

Also, even though I hate it because I've had to rely on it for so long, I try to buy a lot of elastic waist pants and skirts that are made to fit loose. They'll be wearable a little longer than things that are fitted.

With tops I buy things that are made to fit loose so that they don't look too big too quickly, and even when they are a bit snug yet they still don't look bad. Tops with elastic and drawstring bottoms are great!

Goodwill and second hand stores are a blessing.

Yard sales are about to be back in season and I'll be hitting those up as much as possible.

I'm also shopping cheap these days. Discount stores instead of higher end department stores. I've picked up several discount store pieces for 3 or 4 dollars off their clearance racks. They won't last long, the quality isn't great, but they were cheap, and they won't fit me long anyway.

I am trying to figure this out too. I am pretty close to the weight I want to be, but am going to start working on body composition with some weight training. Not sure if measurements are going to get smaller, or larger after weight training. I put it off for as long as I could, but now, my 36” waist pants are so baggy, I am starting to look like a homeless person (already donated my 38's!!!). So I decided to get at least one pair of pants for work, and a pair of jeans. That way, I could at least have a pair of pants for any occasion. I got a pair of 32” waist (yay me!!!) dress pants for work. They are a little snug, but OK for now, and will hopefully become my comfy “big” pants when I get to where I want to be. For the jeans, I decided to buy a pair, that I could wear now, albeit a little tighter than I would like, but are still wearable. These will become motivation to lose the last few pounds, and tone up my body so they'll fit, hopefully, perfectly. So I bought a pair of 30” waist that I could “shrink” into. I am thinking that over time, I will add to these with appropriate size pants as the picture of where I am going to end up for maintenance becomes clearer. Never knew this could be so hard!!! DEFINITELY a good problem to have!!! Good luck.

I kept on wearing my size 12 pants and Large shirts until I couldn't take it any more. . .like I just undid my belt and could slide my pants right off. . .turns out I needed size 6. So, I guess I went the ultra cheap route. I didn't buy anything until I absolutely had to! If I had an event or something, I would've bought the clothing to fit at the time of the event. Being as cheap as I tend to be, I just couldn't see buying a full wardrobe "in between".

I have dropped at least 1 jean size (maybe 2) and I have invested temporarily in a line of belts ). Hoping to go down another full size before I start buying new jeans.

I'm not quite at the point where my clothes are getting too big, they are starting to fit better though! I'm holding off buying new clothes until I absolutely have to mostly cause I don't have money to go buy a new wardrobe for every 10-15 pounds I lose lol.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet - but I go to the tailor all the time. I LOVE some of my "bigger" clothes that I have had taken in. Now they fit perfectly - in fact better than when I originally bought them. I have had a couple of dresses altered 2 - 3 times because of this.

Also, I'm very small around my chest size (I'm a 32D)... 32 is small - most dresses or tops do not fit me well. So i get a lot of shirts taken in under the armpit area. I would keep the VS that you bought, but get it altered for an additional $10. If you need to get it altered again - GREAT! If you get your wear out of it until then - that's GREAT too!

Keep shopping (obviously within your limits) - it makes the weight loss trip feel better because you feel better in clothes that fit.

Couple of options: buy a padded bra to make it fit up top right now; if you're handy with a needle fix the top to make it fit; if you can afford it, take it to a tailor. You could buy one size smaller, but then would you be able to wear it now?

I know my ticker says I've only lost 14lbs, but there were 60 before I joined MFP.

One thing I've done to encourage myself is buy "10lbs" outfits. If I try it on and It's a bit snug I buy it anyway. I know it will look great in 10lbs! But I also know I'm going to lose a lot more than another 10lbs, so I never pay much for them. 20 bucks for a two or three pieces off of clearance racks is my limit.

I bought what fit at the time but I bought at thrift shops. But if I found something really nice in a store that was a little snug but I loved it I would buy it snug and make getting into it comfortably a good goal.

I buy clothes that fit me now. But, I'm fortunate in that since college -- so 15 years -- my bust size has remained the same, despite a wide range of weights -- and so have my hips, for the most part. So if clothes suddenly become looser, and I like them enough to want to keep them, it just requires taking them to a tailor and having them altered.

I don't spend money on clothes that don't flatter, so I buy what looks right when I try it on. I also don't see the sense in buying clothes purposely small in hopes that they'll magically fit perfectly by the time it's time to wear them.