Musings from the Closet

(Rob) #1

I’ve spent half a day trying on all the clothes in my overly substantial and overstuffed closet. I made 2 discoveries:
a) I own a high proportion of ugly-a$$ shirts/trousers from the 90’s and noughties :flushed:
b) my ‘fat’ clothes represent over 50% of my wardrobe (though my super-fat clothes are a very limited segment).
The nostalgia attached to specific clothes that I lived in at my heaviest - those 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants that rotated constantly as the only things I could fit into at that time, was powerful and surprisingly positive. While I am determined to get rid of my fat clothes it was harder than I thought to put these on the donate pile. There’s that nagging little voice saying ‘These clothes served you well, my friend, and let’s face it, you are just going to yo-yo back up there again so you’d better not get rid of these’. I can dismiss the latter half of that self-sabotage but that voice hasn’t gone away yet.
What really did it was putting them on and realizing what massive tents/clown trousers they are on me now.

The only fat clothes I kept were my favorite and possibly irreplaceable comedy/commemorative T-shirts. If I ever do balloon up to my prior weight, I know what I’ll be wearing! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

(A ham loving ham! - VA6KD) #2

I’ve looked in thrift stores occasionally for the odd piece of clothing and I was always frustrated at the lack of big(ger) sizes. Either they don’t get that many donations in the larger sizes or they fly off the racks real quick when they do.

I’m looking forward to helping that cause either way!

(Rob) #3

Lots of these clothes I’ve had for 10, 15 or 20 years though most are pretty timeless, plain items. I’ve never gotten rid of them (and many are rarely or even never worn) just in case… because I’ve never had confidence I could lose the weight (or keep it off). Given the vast majority of dieters’ inability to sustain weight loss (yo-yo hell), I can well believe that people’s fat wardrobes remain in closets and not at charity/goodwill stores… just in case!?! :pensive:

(betsy.rome) #4

I recall from a departed TV show, “What Not To Wear”, a recommendation to take your favorite commemorative T-shirt that’s no longer wearable, and turn the front square of it into a matted & framed picture for your wall. That way it becomes a decorative piece of memorabilia for your room, not your body.

That said, I think it’s a good idea to keep 1 or 2 items of “fat” clothing for your own reminder of how far you’ve come. Way to go!

(Rob) #5

@betsy.rome Genius!

I’m just too old to be the guy in the not faded enough concert or conference t-shirt… or the one with the Union Jack on saying “Were #1” underneath!

(betsy.rome) #6

Even better – pick out a series of a few, say favorite 3 T-shirts, use the same size & color frame and matte for each, and hang them together.

You could bring it to a frame shop, but it’ll be $$$.
For DIY, you’ll want to wash & iron (low-temp) the shirts, and use a hard cardboard backing to stretch it over & staple the blind edges, before matting & framing. If you do it, please post pics here! :grinning:

(Andrew) #7

Just write #keto on the tag when you donate them…

(Ken) #8

I have quite a few rugby jerseys from my college playing days that I kept hold of for sentimental reasons. Now, 35 years later I’m wearing them again.

I donated all my “fat clothes” several years ago to a clothes drive for victims of a tornado that had hit a small town.

(Rob) #9

I have a few youthful items I am looking forward to fitting into again. I feel that when donating, each item should have a label stating:

“These clothes are too big for me now.
If you no longer wish to wear this size,
try the Ketogenic way of eating!
www.ketogenicforums.com”

It would have to be washable and sewn in to survive the charity shop folks washing and sorting.

#10

I said hasta la vista to my chubs clothes. Good riddance. It felt so good to donate them.