Emotions of giving away clothes

Now that it's been almost 3 years since my surgery, I've given away most of the clothes from my past life.  I did most of this in the few months after the surgery.  At that time it was emotional--I was unsure if the surgery would truly be successful, I was so accustomed to wearing these clothes, and I had so few replacements!!  At the same time, though, the excitement of trying on new clothes was tremendous and there was at least some excitement in purging my closet of my high-weight clothes.  I held on to a few things--my highest weight jeans as a reminder, a favorite dress, blazers that I had such difficulty in finding in my size, and the winter coats I love (still holding on to those).  

A friend of mine is having a sale of gently-used clothes for charity and had asked me to go through my closet.  I thought I would not have much.  What I did find were the mid-way clothes that are now too big still hanging.  Getting rid of these was very bittersweet.  These were the dresses that I was ecstatic to get!!  They were size 12, I wore them to a conference in Washington (among other places) and felt like the belle of the ball.  Now that I'm a 6/8 they do not fit.  But getting rid of them yesterday presented the very real anxiety that I could easily regain the 30 or so pounds that would put me back into those clothes...or more!  (Not saying I had a problem with that size or even that weight, just the idea of regain!)

But perhaps the more frustrating part of yesterday was coming across my stockpile of old panties and bras.  It's crazy that I had kept them--I had forgotten that I did!  But it was really, really sad.  I hated my blasted old granny panties, and what's more finding a stupid 40A bra was like winning the lottery. 

Anyway, weird emotions.  Still dealing with it 3 years later.  

I enjoyed reading this! I have also experienced a mix of anxiety and joy as I cleaned out my closet of my "fat clothes". I still have not reached my goal of being a size 8 though and it's crazy to think that my size 14s that I am currently wearing, will one day be too big!! The most emotional thing for me to get rid of was my size 18 silver jeans. I treasured those jeans so much! But I am looking forward to buying some size 8 silver jeans now! =)

This is truly a journey and as we go forward there are surprising emotions.  This is a wonderful post.  Thanks for sharing it!

I am giving my 16s to my bestie. It's also very bittersweet because I was always way bigger than her. I offered them to her, and she is gladly taking them, but it's almost like I don't want her to feel fat because I'm giving her my "fat clothes". Hell, I don't really consider them fat clothes. I'm now in 14s and it boggles my mind because I haven't been this size in over 10 years. It really is weird. Thanks for sharing!

Wow, isn't this so true? I've always been the biggest one of my group, and now I am thinking that my old clothes would fit a couple of my good friends. But I haven't said anything because I don't know how to approach it without hurting their feelings. Ack! So hard! 

How true this is!  All my size 22/24/26's are well and truly gone.  But my mid-way clothes are still stored away.  As you've said, it would be scary-easy to gain the 30 or so lbs that would put me back in them.  For some reason I'm reluctant to give them away.

BTW, I also have 4-5 things I bought at my rock-bottom weight that are now pretty tight, since I've bounced back to what seems to be my permanent weight, right around 142-145.  (Rock bottom was 132.)  I dither between wanting to lose the 10 lbs again (I LIKED being that thin!), and simply accepting that this seems to be where my body wants to be.  But not giving those clothes away either, LOL!

great post, thank you!  While I'm not far out, I was going through my closet this morning....somehow, even with a 34 lb loss, my pants (stretchy of course!) all still fit...but many tops did not...these were not cheap items, but I lovingly put them on the side for donation.  I'm going to hate when it's time to give up my wonderful winter coats....esp a very nifty leather jacket I splurged on before I even considered wls.  oh well, I'm sure there are other nifty items out there in smaller sizes.  (so you can tell I'm old, just by the use of the nifty word, right? LOL)

we can just hope others love our clothes as much as we did.

Sophie

I so feel what you are saying, especially right now. The beautiful lingerie and clothes that I bought when I lost some weight still is barely worn and some never worn, because I regained most of my weight. This weight loss was before my VSG.

Now, with my greater weight loss after VSG, that same beautiful lingerie and clothing are way too big. I went by them on the scale, without realizing it.

It's tough to spend more money on new clothes knowing these too will have a short shelf life. I could keep them, but I'm nervous it might make me feel free to regain.

I am only 13 days out from surgery( down 26 lbs though) but I plan on holding on to a few items that are my favorite. I plan on making a blanket out of them. I did this with a stack of tees of my husbands from his younger days so I know I can do a good job. A little reminder of where I have been. Can't wait to be down several sizes. My 22's are looking and feeling so loose. My mom told me yesterday that I have saggy butt jeans now. :) I will take that as a NSF!