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Clothes for Losing Weight: 4 Key Pieces

The weight loss journey is an emotional one. The best part of this adventure is seeing results — but that is challenging when you’re putting on size 22s after you’ve whittled down to a 16. To help you manage, let’s talk about the best clothes for losing weight.

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In a perfect world, you’d wear something new and cute for every size you drop. But that gets pricey, and leaves you with pieces you can only wear for a short period of time. Sure, you’re a weight loss rockstar because you’re working out like a fiend or you learned how to manifest weight loss or whatever (congrats, btw!). But that doesn’t mean your bank account should suffer irreparable damage as a result.

So what’s a (shrinking) girl to do?

For one, don’t keep wearing the stuff that’s too big. The right attire that fits and flatters is a powerful motivator, and your reward for all that hard work. Instead, invest in a few stylish and affordable key pieces that you can wear beyond a single size — the four styles outlined can be your guide.

Close up view of women's feet on scale, to represent the best clothes for weight loss.

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Because you deserve to look great at every point along your weight loss journey. That’s true no matter why you’re dropping the pounds. Maybe it’s the freshman 15, baby weight, a deep love for Snickers, or, heck, even a positive result on a food sensitivity test that prompted you into an elimination diet. Whatever the reason, it helps your cause to stay stylish and confident. And what you wear is a huge part of that.

The best clothes for losing weight

1. Wrap dresses

You just can’t go wrong with the ingenious wrap dress. It’s suitable for any size, of course, but you’ll find it’s really convenient as you slowly move down the scale. Since wrap dresses are fairly loose without the tie element, you can pull it more taut at the waist as you go. If you lose some chest fullness, you also have the option to wear a cami underneath the dress. You know, to avoid wardrobe malfunctions.

Pink wrap dress from Lulu's as a clothing style for losing weight.
Flutter sleeve wrap dress. See details at lulus.com.

2. Shift dresses

If you’ve run across a shift dress that was shapeless and unflattering, it was simply the wrong shift dress — not a sign that all shift dresses are awful. A well-made shift dress has some lovely benefits. For one, this garment can camouflage zones you might still be working on. It also fits like a dream and is easy to customize to your size.

You can slip a belt on if you want to create a more fitted silhouette as you lose weight, for example.

Model wears shift dress, a good style of dress when you're losing weight.
Nina Leopard High/Low Shift Dress. See details at nordstromrack.com.

A solid version, like the Nina Leopard style shown above, is easy to dress up with bold accessories, scarves and statement necklaces.

Green shift dress from Modcloth.
A-line dress with tie-back. See details at modcloth.com.

Or add a fun retro vibe to your life. This quirky a-line dress from Modcloth has a tie at the back — a super useful feature when you’re losing weight.

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3. Dressy tunics

Tunics are great to throw on over bathing suits, but they’re also capable of looking great in other environments.

You can wear Foxcroft’s white stretch tunic out on date night with faux leather leggings and heels. Or top it with a longline blazer and wear it to work.

4. Wide-leg Pants

The wide leg is a trendy silhouette, but it has the added advantage of being super flattering. And because it’s designed with intentional volume, it doesn’t appear as though you’re wearing something too large for your frame.

Smocked waist wide leg pants.
Smocked waist wide leg pants. See details at venus.com.

This pair of wide-legged pants from Venus has an added bonus of a smocked waist. It’ll grip your midsection even as it gets smaller. Pair it with a more fitted top or something tucked in, to show off the progress you’ve made in your waistline.

Before you invest a bunch in these clothes for losing weight, try on multiple sizes — to test the silhouette against the theory that you can reasonably wear it a size large or a size small. (Amazon Try Before You Buy is a great resource for this). A few try-on sessions will point you to the silhouettes that work best for your body type.