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I am 5'1" and after two pregnancies in two years in my 30's, my highest weight was 173 pounds. That's a lot on a small frame. I cut out sugar, anything white and cut my portions as I was eating too much. I also joined a gym. I went from 173 to 126. Took about three years. It was a lot more fun shopping for clothes in a size 6-8 than a size 14. People don't even recognize pictures of my heavier self.
Unfortunately with the pandemic, I've been boredom eating and stopped going to the gym because I didn't feel their safety precautions were up to snuff. I've gained 12 pounds. :-(
Do any of you retired seniors keep different sizes of clothing.
Not due to how they are made, but how your weight fluctuates?
I have small, just right, and chonky bear size. Right now I am at chonky bear state.
I had to buy one more pair of chonk pants to have enough to wear these last couple of months.
Small pants have not seen the light of day since last year
I can still fit in just right, but I prefer the loose chonk fit.
So I have decided that this is it. I am going to have to just accept it and get rid of the small clothing.
“Loose chonk fit”. OMG that’s funny. Sadly with Covid more than a few of us slipped into that category. Determined to get back to fighting shape though.
Body type has a lot to do with it. I've always had a tennis player type body and am about the same height as you. If I weighed nearly that much I would be so uncomfortable and would have a difficult time getting off the sofa and feel handicapped not being able to function. You obviously have more of a football player type body. You know where your comfort level is.
I do believe men in general lose weight much easier than women. I have no problem losing weight when I just cut back on food without changing any of my daily routine. I've lost weight in the last couple of months and have already had 2 people I haven't seen in a long time recently tell me I look like I've dropped weight. Being in my early 60s, I thought it would be more difficult to lose weight but that hasn't been the case.
I'll stop losing soon because I don't want to look like I've been sick. That's one thing about losing too much weight too fast. You want to look thinner without looking like you've been in the hospital or have acquired an illness. And to me, some people look better with a few extra pounds than they do being thin
At 260, I felt like a slug. That was late last year after a lot of relationship stress, stress buying a house, etc.
235 is still heavy, but it is much easier to go on hikes, etc., at that weight, than 260. 190-200 would probably be a good weight for me. I got down to 170 in college, but that was working long hours at Walmart stocking in the back, doing a ton of walking at school, not working a sedentary job, and not eating much. I felt awful at 170. Once I stopped the Walmart job, I went back up to around 190 fairly quickly and felt a lot better. Until I was mid-late 20s, I was a serious weightlifter, and still weightlift recreationally.
I have a belly, but have a lot of muscle that makes me look more proportional than someone with less muscle at the same height/weight.
It is very true that it is difficult to find good clothes in small sizes, but that is not new, it has always been the case. My solutions to that had always included:
1. looking at kids clothes - sometimes an interesting item can be found in a 12 year old size that fits well (and is usually cheaper than women's clothes)
2. if I find something I really like in size 2, I buy the whole rack of the same item :-). I actually have multiple copies of a number of clothes
3. never ever give away or throw away anything if it is still wearable at all (almost half of my wardrobe, including the best stuff, is from the second half of the 1970s, when I was still a teenager. The other half is from the 1980s. In fact, I have hardly bought any clothes at all after my early 30s... just socks and underwear)
4. if I really like something, but they don't have it in my size (which is 2, has been throughout my entire life between the age of 16 and 60 - I have never been pregnant), then I get it in size 4 with a plan to have it altered. It ends up sitting in the closet and I never wear it because it is too large, but I still like to have it, maybe it will shrink some day :-).
In the Covid time, I think I lost a bit of weight (mostly too lazy to cook anything) because clothes feel very loose, but it is probably only like 5 lbs max (I don't have a balance). It amazes me how people can lose 27 lbs in a few months (if I did that, I would probably die, like Karen Carpenter).
There used to be a petite store like 5-7-9 for small sizes. I used to shop there. Never at kids section ever. But if I drop anymore weight, I won’t be able to buy cheap underwear from Costco, I’m already the smallest size there.
Do any of you retired seniors keep different sizes of clothing.
Not due to how they are made, but how your weight fluctuates?
I have small, just right, and chonky bear size. Right now I am at chonky bear state.
.....................................
Yes, I have different sizes of clothing, partly just in case I should need larger sizes, and partly because I have a ton of room in my closet so there's no pressure to clear things out. Plus, I'm not a shopper so no need to make room. I need to control my weight due to T2 diabetes and it's been pretty stable for around 7 years. Moving to CO has helped with that because the weather is good for outdoor activity year round. BUT I still hold on to things. Pants get tighter more quickly than anything else so I hesitate to get rid of them. I have a lot of '80's thick cardigans and sweat pants that I'm keeping because I think I may in up in a cold drafty home some day and those things will feel good. And these things moved across the country with me! Embarrassing admission - I still have maternity pants in my closet.
I am age 66, 6' (184 cm) tall and weigh just under 160 lb (73 kg). About 6-7 years ago, I weighed over 190 lb, but I switched to a diet with no refined sugar in food and beverages, and eliminated most other sweet foods or beverages. I also avoid heavy, empty carbs in the diet. I don't snack on junk food either. I eat 3 big meals per day, loaded with veggies and protein along with some quinoa, brown rice or cooked pinto beans. My focus is to eat enough of my healthy food to avoid losing any more weight.
I was living in Tucson, but recently moved out of my apartment there after my lease expired. I put my stuff in storage and came back over to Germany with a 40+ lb duffel bag of clothes (including winter clothes!). I live in an apartment about 10 minutes walk from downtown Chemnitz in the eastern part of Germany. Any store or service I need is in easy walking distance, including 5 grocery stores. I don't have a car here, so I walk and bike ride a lot. This avoids a sedentary lifestyle, which is one of the big causes of excess weight gain.
All pants and shirts that I wear now have been purchased within the last 4-5 years or so. The clothes I wore 6 years ago when I weighed over 190 lb would fit too loose now, so those got donated. At my current weight, which I would like to maintain, I use a belt to keep pants snug around the waist.
My husband is the same, 6 feet and hovering around 170 pounds. The heaviest he ever weighted was 185 pounds back in 2000, that’s when I said he was gaining weight by just hugging him, he ate 2 bagels a day, that has stopped.
But we regularly eat pizzas, donuts, pastries and cakes. Actually my husband has dessert everyday with his afternoon tea. But I don’t want him to lose any more weight, I want a reserve in case he gets sick.
I lost weight even though I eat pizza, donut, pastry, and lots of fruits and vegetables. I just don’t drink alcohol, not even wine, they all add calories. When I’m on vacation, I won’t worry about losing or gaining, I’m on vacation for goodness sake. The best part of being losing weight is now I can get cheap swimsuits with very small size on sale easily. Hey that’s my contribution to frugality in my household.
Not exactly. On March 7, when COVID was really just beginning to enter my consciousness, I had an appointment with my endocrinologist. I have a weird thyroid condition that he has to monitor so I see him every six months and he has me do a complete blood workup.
I had put on 12 pounds over the winter (blaming it on bread and and that good Canadian beer, mostly) and my blood sugar was up for the second time in a row. He wanted to put me on meds but I asked to let me first try with diet and exercise. He said OK, come back in four months and recommended a Mediterranean type diet.
So, yeah, not being able to travel to Canada regularly and not being able to do my part-time job in NYC, I had lots of time to chop vegetables and cook meals for myself. In that regard, the shutdown helped, but the original driver to lose weight was to get that blood sugar down. And I did.
My dad had Type II, and I have the tendency, and now that I am 62 I just can't mess around with eating things that affect my blood sugar as I once did. When I saw the doc, I mentioned that I will probably have to eat this way for the rest of my life, and he said, "There is no 'probably'. You WILL have to eat this way for the rest of your life if you want to avoid diabetes."
I'm good with that.
***
On a darker note, my endocrinologist is located in a hospital in a minority neighborhood in Newark, NJ. As most of you know, my state got whacked in the spring by COVID-19.
When I saw my doc in July, he looked at my last date of March 7, and said, "You know, the week after you were last here is when it all came crashing down. That week we had two COVID patients at the hospital. The next day, we had four, the next day eight, and it continued to double. By April I had closed my office and my and staff and I were working at the hospital full-time. I thought my practice was done forever. But we never ran out of beds at the hospital, because they died just as fast as they came in."
But they did reopen, of course with spacing and other safety restrictions, and the day I saw him, July 17, he said the hospital had only two COVID patients.
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