The relationship between clothes and weight changes

Faith

I really like buying clothes. I know what suits my shape, and I'm a demon for buying a bunch of dresses from cheap places like boohoo.com every few months. Because they're cheap, they're all made from poor quality materials. Very few of my outfits have zips; most have a bit of stretch in them. I buy clothes, and when they stop fitting, I just throw them out and buy new ones - maybe in the same size, maybe a size bigger.

I have all sorts of cognitive distortions for when I buy a bigger size. For example: "That looks small on the bust", "That material looks like it will shrink", "The model is wearing a size 10 and she's tiny - it's obviously small fitting" and so on. I never think "Huh, maybe I have gained weight". Because my clothes are generally stretchy, I don't tend to notice when I have gained weight through how they fit.

So I have decided to make a change to my wardrobe, in the hope that it will stop me from regaining weight that I have lost. I'm going to start buying more expensive clothes, and less of them. They will ideally be structured and have zips. This way, if they stop fitting, I can't just think "Ah, I'll buy more". It will hopefully force me to address weight gain as it happens, instead of after I have piled on 10 lbs that I lost last year.

There's a reddit thread here that talks about the same thing. So how about you, fellow boardsies? Anyone else out there who might be stuck in the same clothing trap?

jokettle

I have a slightly different relationship with my clothes. I couldn't bring myself to throw things away when they got too small. Instead, I did what all the weight-loss forums tell you NOT to do; I hung on to some of them in the hopes I'd fit into them again! And then got annoyed and down when that didn't happen quickly enough (because I wasn't making any real effort to change). It did spur me on a bit when I committed to losing the weight earlier this year though...

When I slowly gained weight over the past couple of years, I got depressed at my new clothing size. It was most apparent in jeans; I used to live in Topshop size 10s during college, but when the 12s stopped fitting and the generous size 12 jeggings from M&S felt a bit tight, I resolved to just wear skirts and dresses instead :rolleyes: denial was strong over here! I refused to even try on size 14s.

My wardrobe was a big part in my decision to lose weight. According to the BMI scales, I was never technically overweight, but I could see a lot of body fat % and very little muscle mass. I certainly wasn't healthy. My clothes fit, just, but I didn't look great or feel comfortable. I hated outfits that had my tummy spilling over the waistband, or showed chubby arms, or had my thunder thighs visible. I wore lots of layers and strategically placed scarves.

I used my wardrobe as one motivator to lose weight. I had a skirt that I bought at a huge discount in Kildare Village years ago, and it didn't fit me even then. I just bought it because it was pretty and something like €20 for a silk skirt! That was my goal skirt. I tried it on every 5 pounds lost, and even though it took a while before it fit, seeing that incidental progress alongside the decreasing numbers on the scale really kept me going. Since reaching my goal weight, I've curated more Pinterest fashion boards than ever before! I still haven't quite reached my goal size though. That tummy pooch isn't going anywhere fast, so I'm focusing now on the quality of my food as well as the quantity, and I might step up the cardio a bit as well. A couple inches off my belly will make a big difference.

I haven't been back to Topshop to try on the 10s yet But the M&S size 10 jeggings are getting a bit lose, so maybe I'll have a changing room session in the next few weeks!

I am wary of putting too much emphasis on how I look as opposed to focusing on how healthy I am, so I do check in with myself regularly to make sure I'm not straying down the path of disordered thinking/eating (for example, not allowing myself to hit my calorie goal because I didn't fit into a nice dress in the shop). I've read a lot of stories about people who mentally beat themselves up for things like that. When losing weight, food and size and calories and clothes can take up so much brain power that it's difficult to not fall down that rabbit hole of obsessing over every little thing. I am not my dress size!

Dolbert

A colleague is a very glamorous older lady with some expensive designer pieces, some dating back 20 years. When they get tight, that's her cue to diet and she refuses to buy a bigger size - I'd imagine not being able to wear a very valuable wardrobe has quite a motivational effect!

I own a few "benchmark" dresses that are tight on the waist with boning etc. There's absolutely no stretch and when I couldn't fit into my size recently it was a bit of a wake-up call. They're not worth huge money, maybe £100 new, but enough for me to not want to splash out on a bigger size!

Sunny Dayz

jokettle wrote: »

My wardrobe was a big part in my decision to lose weight. According to the BMI scales, I was never technically overweight, but I could see a lot of body fat % and very little muscle mass. I certainly wasn't healthy. My clothes fit, just, but I didn't look great or feel comfortable. I hated outfits that had my tummy spilling over the waistband, or showed chubby arms, or had my thunder thighs visible. I wore lots of layers and strategically placed scarves.

This is how I feel. I wouldn't be considered to be overweight. The scales and BMI charts tell me I'm a healthy weight for my age and height. But I feel that clothes don't fit me right, I size up with my trousers just to get some comfort around the waistband and to fit in my calves and thighs. I feel conscious of tops clinging to my tummy and making me look pregnant when I'm not.


I can put my hand up and confess to holding onto clothes to slim into. I have a pair of River Island jeans which looked fab on me when they fitted and I haven't been able to get the same ones again in a size up.

Faith

Dolbert wrote: »

I own a few "benchmark" dresses that are tight on the waist with boning etc. There's absolutely no stretch and when I couldn't fit into my size recently it was a bit of a wake-up call. They're not worth huge money, maybe £100 new, but enough for me to not want to splash out on a bigger size!

That's pretty much how I'm approaching it! I'm going to do a wardrobe overhaul in the next couple of months anyway, but rather than spending £100 on 5 dresses, I'll spend it on one or two dresses. I'm going to stop being afraid of zips.

On the flip side, stretchy clothes can also hide weight loss, so you might feel like you're having no success because you're still wearing the same clothes!

pinkypinky

I am like the glamorous lady (not the glamorous part!) in that I keep things but sometimes they are a negative as well. I have a fab red skirt from Coast that basically only fits me when I'm at my slimmest, so I get to wear it about once every 2 years. Fashion changes of course. I'd love to look in the mirror and be happy with what I saw but I rarely am.

Katgurl

This was also me in the past Faith, for years in fact - buying cheap tat that falls apart because I always believe my size is temporary and I'm going to be a size smaller the next month. I always wore horrible stretchy dresses - vom.

The logic yo-yo'd from both directions -
"I'm not investing in anything at this size because I've recently gained weight and I'm going to lose it quickly (in fairness I always did - see next point)"
"I'm on a weightloss roll that I plan to continue so I'll only buy a couple of cheap items because i'll be the next size down soon (except I wouldn't, I'd gain it back and have to go to point above."


Anyway making a few investment purchases of jeans should help (there is nowhere to hide).

Faith

Katgurl wrote: »

"I'm not investing in anything at this size because I've recently gained weight and I'm going to lose it quickly (in fairness I always did - see next point)"
"I'm on a weightloss roll that I plan to continue so I'll only buy a couple of cheap items because i'll be the next size down soon (except I wouldn't, I'd gain it back and have to go to point above."

We have the exact same internal struggles

hardCopy

I read the same reddit thread. I left one of my best suits in at the weekend to be taken in. No going back.

Ilyana 2.0

For me more than anything else, it was the tightness of my clothes that spurred me on to lose weight this year. It was really gradual; first I couldn't find a nice dress for my graduation last August so I ended up wearing pants, then at Christmas I had to resign myself to buying a dress in a size larger than normal. My Miss Selfridge skinnies have a serious amount of stretch in them, but by March even they were losing the battle against my hips.

I've been a size 12 most of my adult life, and I just couldn't bring myself to start buying everything in a 14. It's too close to a 16 for my liking, which is the heaviest I've ever been. So I pulled myself together and I'm nearly 2st lighter and those skinny jeans are falling off me. I tried on some 10s in a River Island recently and I figure that another 1/2st will be enough to have them fit comfortably. No more living in denial for me!