To give or keep?

**catnapper** · 02-12-2009, 05:34 PM

The age old question of dieters.... do I give away the outgrown "fat clothes" or hold on to them just in case I gain it back again?

I gave away most of my fat clothes and kept a few key items that always made me feel good when I wore them. Problem was, when I started to gain weight over the fall and holidays, I HAD to pull them out of hibernation. I knew in the back of my mind that if I gained weight, I still had stuff to wear. I tend to think that if I hadn't kept the clothes, I might have caught myself and stopped the weight gain at 10 pounds instead of allowing it to creep up to 20 pounds regained.

So now, after gaining 20 pounds of the 50 I lost, I worked HARD the past month to lose most of the regained weight. I am able to put the "fat clothes" back into storage...... but do I want to? Do I want to just give it all away? Maybe keep one size up in case I have a mild fluctation?

What do you all do when you lose or gain a lot of weight? Keep or give away the clothes?

**Laura's Babies** · 02-12-2009, 06:34 PM

I have just hung on to one size up but I watch my weight very, very close. If I gain, I cut back on what I eat. Over the holidays I gained about 2 pounds and everybody laughed at me because I worried about it but the pounds add up of you don't watch it! Last trip out I ate more carbs and put on a few pounds so now I have cut out the carbs and am watching what I eat.. Carbs just make my appitite increase by 1000%, Carbs and soda's are a no-no for me...

**carole** · 02-12-2009, 07:58 PM

Most of my fat clothes i loathed anyhow, but if i were you i would only keep the ones you felt really good in, if any, and donate the rest to a charity, keeping them is not a good omen in my opinion, too easy to slip back to the old weight, start a fresh and enjoy the new slender you and btw WELL DONE, i hope i can join you and follow my own advice sooner rather than later.

**kitten645** · 02-12-2009, 08:02 PM

Give them away!! Without a doubt. I hated the way I lookeed in them. Even if you don't realize it, it's that little seed in the back of your brain that says to your willpower "Well at least I have a back up"

No way Jose!

I just know now when what I have in my closet is getting "snug" , it's time to watch what I eat and concentrate on my health more.
And when I say give them away..I do mean AWAY! No good putting them in storage..they are still part of your life and the fat doesn't have to be.

Claudia

**K9karen** · 02-12-2009, 08:26 PM

Well, I've been the same weight for a few years and had to buy all new clothes when I lost weight.

But, I can gain it back verrrrry easily if I'm not careful.

So, I have kept some of my bigger sized clothes, mostly skirts and a few slacks. I wear my huge baggy sweaters around the house becasue they're still in great shape.

Not to be a pessimist, but, if you're like me, you go on binges. I'd say keep a few so you're comfortable, but get out of them asap!

**catnapper** · 02-12-2009, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by K9karen

Well, I've been the same weight for a few years and had to buy all new clothes when I lost weight.

But, I can gain it back verrrrry easily if I'm not careful.

So, I have kept some of my bigger sized clothes, mostly skirts and a few slacks. I wear my huge baggy sweaters around the house becasue they're still in great shape.

Not to be a pessimist, but, if you're like me, you go on binges. I'd say keep a few so you're comfortable, but get out of them asap!

I am a binger!

I'm also a stress eater. I realize the bulk of my weight was gained during the months where things at home were their most tense. Now that my "problem" has moved into her own apartment, I'm back to eating healthy and lost almost 15 pounds since the middle of January (a LOT of weight to drop in one month.... but most of it came on as fast as it left my belly)

BUT I don't want to use stress as an easy excuse to binge. Its too easy to say, "I'm having a bad day because of XYZ" and eat several handfulls of chocolate from the work candy dish. So far this month, I've sat nose to nose with the candy dish on my desk and only ate one piece of chocolate a day. I'm proud of myself for that!

I called mom this afternoon and invited her to come shopping in my basement. She's the size I was at my heaviest. I have a new coworker who is also the size I was.... I haven't gotten the nerve to ask her if she'd be interested in some of my old clothes. I don't know if she'd be insulted or not (I know I'd have been thrilled to have new clothes, but not everyone thinks like I do)

**Taz_Zoee** · 02-12-2009, 08:52 PM

I gave away jeans that were two or three sizes too big for me (several years ago) and now I'm in one size larger than those that I gave away!!

I am in the opposite position. I have lots of jeans and nice pants that are too small for me and I'm not giving them up. I just wish I could get motivated enough to get back in them.

Good for you for shedding the weight you gained over the holidays.

ETA: (after reading your post before mine) The jeans I gave away were to a co-worker. LOL I didn't have to ask her if she wanted them. We somehow got into a conversation about weight and size. I told her I had lots of pants in this size and she said that's her size! So it worked out perfectly.

**Daisy and Delilah** · 02-12-2009, 08:56 PM

By all means, get rid of them!!! It just gives you an excuse to gain weight. You can free up alot of space for the new clothes.

**Medusa** · 02-13-2009, 06:54 AM

Yes, get rid of them. If you do happen to gain some weight again, (you won't), then you'll be forced to buy new clothes and that'll tick you off and you'll get right back on your diet. Besides, after you lose weight and get back into old clothes, it's depressing and the clothes won't look right anyhow. I kept the weight off that I had lost for over 10 years, until menopause hit, and the old clothes were out of fashion anyhow, so I had to buy new. Don't sabotage your hard work by having the old clothes as a standby. You're setting yourself up for failure. Get rid of them. And congrats for being so disciplined to catch yourself before you gained all the weight back.

**KYS** · 02-13-2009, 06:39 PM

I say get rid of most of them and keep a couple in the closet just in-case.
I wear jeans most of the time and when I got down two sizes smaller
I gave most of my fat jeans to one of my sisters. I kept a couple of jeans
just in-case one size up.
Unfortunately I am a comfort food eater and I gained some of the weight
back. (thus I was glad I had a couple of larger size jeans still in my closet.)