Do I keep my "thin" clothes or accept that I'll never wear my Levi's again?

[lou967]

Hi all. I am new on here. I used to weigh 10st a few years ago after successfully slimming down from 16st. I'm 5ft8. Over the last year through working, life etc I've gained 3st back. I've been sorting through my wardrobe over the last few weeks and came across my "thin clothes". Once I'd slimmed down, I bought lots of designer jeans such as Levi's, Diesel and 7 For All Mankind in a 28 waist. I recently tried them on and I cant get them past my thighs. I absoloutely love my Levi's 501 and I don't want to part with them or any of my "thin clothes".

I love eating and would love some advice on whether to keep or bin/sell my thin clothes. I did calorie counting to lose the weight last time, but I can't seem to get motivated. Also, once I lose the weight, how do I make sure I don't gain it back? Do any of you weigh regular? If your jeans get tight, do you cut back until they fit?

As its lockdown, I want to try and slim back down. Any help, tips or ideas are welcome. Thanks

I held onto quite a lot of old clothes which no longer fitted for ages, including some stuff from my student days that realistically I was never wearing again! Eventually it got a bit ridiculous because I was avoiding buying things which actually fit me and looked good, because I didn't have space for them and even if I was slim enough to fit into the old things they were hopelessly out of style anyway so enough was enough. I took some pictures of the things that had real nostalgia value for me (like old formal dresses) Kondo-style and/or made sure I had pictures of me wearing them for the memories, but then got rid of nearly everything. It felt quite liberating although a bit sad, like I was saying goodbye to a part of my life and coming to some level of acceptance that my body was different and would never look like that again . I kept one or 2 things which I really did love and I now have just the one pair of 'skinny' classic black trousers which are my 'trousers of ambition' , every so often I try them on, even having lost quite a lot of weight - am now officially a 'healthy weight' - and they do now go over my arse which was not the case for some time they still don't really fit well enough to wear them out of the house, but one day maybe. I do weigh myself regularly (couple of times a month, more often if I am actively trying to lose weight) and also use the fit of my 'new' clothes which ought to fit well as a bit of a marker of whether I am putting on weight around the waist, this is where visceral fat (fat around the organs) tends to show and is particularly dangerous for health so a good motivator for me to keep an eye on things and not let my weight creep back up.

3 stone is going to take you a while to lose healthily and you need comfortable, well fitting clothes to wear in that time to feel good about yourself which is crucial for long term success IMO, so if holding onto the old stuff is what's stopping you doing that then I would have a clear out. But if it's motivating you then why not keep at least some things?

In terms of a diet, calorie counting is effective but I do think it's a bit of a dreary slog if you love your food and not something you'd want to do forever (and as you've found if the diet isn't sustainable, you will tend to put weight back on when you stop), personally I found 5:2 more sustainable as although you need to be sensible most of the time, you can eat relatively 'normally' on non fast days and it does allow occasional 'treat' days. Or other people prefer low carb as you can manage it so you rarely feel hungry? Maybe shop around a little to find a plan which works for you and doesn't feel like such a huge sacrifice? Good luck

Give yourself a year and if you dont lose the weight then force yourself to get rid.

Thanks for replying.