Why Losing Weight Is Both a Blessing and a Curse

There are very few people who aren't happy to discover they've lost a few pounds, but when you're on a budget, this lost weight can bring mixed feelings. On one hand, losing some weight you'd been wanting to shed can be a great relief, but on the other hand, when your clothes no longer fit, you're faced with the expensive proposition of having to buy new ones.

Even if you only bought the bare minimum of clothes to get by until you saw if they weight would stay off or if you'd lose even more weight (a practice I recommend), just to buy a couple of pairs of pants and a couple of shirts to wear to work can easily cost $100 or more (unless you're one of those gifted people who can actually find cool clothes at Goodwill--I'm not). To replace an entire wardrobe ranging from PJ's to formalwear can cost a couple thousand dollars, even on a budget. Sure, you can get by for a while with baggy clothes, but wearing clothes that are too big for you can make you feel unattractive and keep you from making the best impression on the people around you in certain situations. They can also make you feel a little too comfortable with your new weight, making it easy to start putting the pounds back on. I've found that quickly buying new clothes that fit my new weight is a good way to help keep lost weight off, because I'll notice right away if I start gaining it back.

A few months ago, I bought several pairs of new pants after realizing that my entire pants wardrobe consisted of three pairs of jeans, one of which was days away from developing significant holes. No sooner had I bought four pairs of dress pants and two pairs of jeans than I unexpectedly lost just enough weight to make all my new pants too big. Fortunately, I had enough Gap coupons saved up to get one new pair of jeans for $30, and I stumbled across a killer sale to get another pair for $10. The dress pants, though, will have to wait. Most of my sweaters also became too big, but I was able to get two new ones using Christmas gift cards. My goal is to spend no more than $400 on clothes this year, a goal I think is pretty reasonable since my wardrobe already contains everything I really need, and I goal I think is necessary because I like to buy new clothes.

Even if you've managed to avoid spending money on weight loss programs, diet pills, and gym memberships, weight loss can still end up costing you money! There isn't really any ideal solution to this problem, so you'll just have to decide what works best for you.

Photo by wader

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