Interim Wardrobe

Thrift store

Clearance is your best friend.

I've gotten alot of clothes on clearance in each size I've dropped down into and haven't paid more than $7 for any piece.

You can also shop at Goodwill if you don't mind 2nd hand.

Thrift stores, Old Navy, Wally World, TJMaxx, Marshalls - clearance racks.

In addition to this, I also did some alterations myself as I have decent sewing skills. Belts and safety pins work wonders too.

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If I may just add one thing to consider... I don't know your personal story, but I'm thinking a lot of ours here reflect mine. So, I'll give you my thoughts about my previous yo-yo clothes change sizes:

- it can be really easy to think "i'm in the middle. I need the interim wardrobe on my way to the pinnacle of my success!" and then get some really cheap, crappy clothes. I've done it. I lost 30 lbs once and then really started to look shabby (I've invested a lot in real nice looking, big-guy clothes for my standard weight of 330... ) - So when I went down a few sizes, I looked like quite the slob that didn't have his act together. But who cares, those clothes were THE CHEAPEST I could find. And I was only going to be there for a few weeks anyway, right?!

Well for me at least, that back-fired. I kept looking at my name-brand big guy clothes and then feeling bad about how I looked when I went to work. Someone even commented at work that I had lost my style.

Well if we know anything about people with weight problems - or at least a morbidly obese 30 year old single guy, we have GREAT SELF ESTEEM -(sarcasm abounds).

I started back-sliding fast.

Now, I'm not blaming my back-slide on my ugo-temp clothes. But they certainly didn't help. So, if I have one bit of advice/thoughts for you, it is this:

Be cost conscious, but do not sacrifice your style and how the clothes make you feel. You're getting smaller! Clothes should start to make you feel HAPPY that you're wearing them. If you pick up something and say "that'll do" - maybe it won't. Let this interim wardrobe be a tool for you. Don't skimp.

Best of luck - and now I can't wait to take my own advice on my new journey - and let's both celebrate soberly giving away our old big-guy big-gal clothes soon.

Btw this gave me the idea to go through my drawers and closet today

Clearance racks are fantastic. Especially right now, they're already starting to clearance out spring and summer stuff. You can find stuff for not much more ($2-5) on the clearance racks at Target/Old Navy/TJ Maxx/Marshalls etc than you would a thrift store. I bought three shirts the other day at Target for less than $3 each. Keep an eye on Old Navy too, because every few months they'll put all their clearance stuff on sale for 50% off the clearance price. I got a $40 sweater there for $3 a while back . . .

I've been selling some of my old clothes on different groups on Facebook. It's also a good place to find used clothes at a good price. I've also been buying clothes that are a tad too snug on me so that I have some shrinking room. Dresses are your best friend because you can wear them at varying sizes versus pants.

Definitely thrift stores. Shop around - some are better than others as far as the quality of stuff they put on the racks and the prices they charge. When I was transitioning through sizes I found some great brand name jeans at one of my local shops for about $3 each.

I dropped two pants sizes and one shirt size; I put all those clothes away and went to K-Mart and JCPenney for some cheap interim clothes. I was told at WW to get rid of the bigger clothes as motivation and incentive to keep the weight off. Maybe there is some wisdom and truth in that, because I have since gone back up one size. I'm not planning to go up to the original size, because I'm aware of what I did wrong... got fat, dumb and unhappy.

thrift stores in an upscale neighborhood.

Seriously, I regularly score Lucky Brand jeans for under $10 a pair, once with the tags still on, and DKNY work slacks. One time I even ran into a leather Coach bag for $30 (and yes, for you nay-sayers, my daughter works for Coach and verified that it was actual Coach and not a repro or outlet).

When I was losing (I lost 134 pounds following multiple surgeries), I got in the habit of hitting the high-end neighborhood thrift every week and trying to get 2-3 pairs of jeans, and 2-3 pairs of work slacks in the next 2 sizes down from where I was. That way, when things got loose, I wasn't in a panic trying to find things to fit.

Basic t-shirts and tops, yeah, those pretty much came from Old Navy because even though their things wear out quickly, they work for a couple months and that was all I needed.

My trick is to go to a thrift store or Goodwill in a very wealthy town or neighborhood. This way, you are bound to find some really really nice, high end clothes for next to nothing. I have made some really spectacular finds doing this including a $200 dress for 2 bucks and a genuine Kate Spade purse for 5.

I agree with the Thrift store idea. I believe stores labeled "Consignment" stores may have higher quality clothes. Also clearance racks.

Once thing I did when I was between sizes (but gaining) was buy a lot of shorts and capri pants that had drawstrings at the waist. These are just casual weekend clothes, but I'm still wearing some of these even though I've lost 47 pounds. They were tight on me, and now they are big on me, but with the drawstring, I can wear them. But these are NOT clothes for work, just casual kicking around in.

I think you should just go shopping. You have a better body - why wear baggy and ill-fitting clothes that won't show this great success?

You may be losing more, sure - but, why be miserable until then?

Be healthy, be happy, and shop as you deserve to shop.

Congratulations on a job well done.

Good basics that will work even if you go down a size - so stretch skirts, tunics, fitted dresses with stretch, skirts that you have to wear a bit higher on the waist. Much of my clothing that was a size bigger still works as I just wear it a bit baggier (they were quite tight before) but not unshapely. I did have to get rid of trousers, already loose skirts and jeans, but other things I can wear down on my hips more.