dress sizes?

[anti-cake]

ok I know everyone is different, but i am fascinated to know HOW different.

i lost 30 lbs ( -halfway to goal people!)

yesterday my mother said i could go through her wardrobe and borrow some trousers until i get too thin for them as all mine are now too big. (result!)

they fit lovely- i mean they look good on her and good on me

but this is the bizzare thing

my stats 5'2
143 lbs
i am pear shaped
dress size uk 10

my mothers stats (her weight is my first goal)

5'2+ a half
120 lbs
she is pear shaped
dress size uk 10

I tried on most of her clothes. they fit us both. we are practically the same height, same shape, same cup size, i am a *bit* curvier, but a 23 lbs difference should be at least a dress size? surely?

maybe my weight is just 'denser' than everyone elses? I am certainly not muscular, my mum does yoga daily and exercises and looks after herself, i am a flabby mess.

so out of noseyness does anyone want to post thier weight, height and dress size (and body shape) just to see what the differences are?

*totally understand if you don't want to*
_________________

 

[MadamDotty]

Hiya

I agree it's such a bizarre thing this dress size malarchy.

When I started CD at the beginning of the year, my aim was to get down to just under 9 stone, which I thought would put me in a dress size 10, as I was roughly this size & shape in my twenties. However after losing a couple of stone I knew that to go down this far in weight would end up leaving me looking too skinny and I stopped at 9.6½ (so as to be under 9 and a ½ stone ). I'm pear shaped with a small waist and so to my amazement I'm now wearing size 8 tops & skirts, unless the skirt is very straight & then it's a size 10, and i'm a size 10 in trousers. So I weigh more than I used to but am a lot smaller? Strange, but I'm not complaining!

Ooh forgot to say, I'm 5.3½ (the ½ is very important!)

 

[Maintainer]

Dress sizes are a very strange thing!

I'm 5'6", weigh 10 stone now (140lbs) and am pear shaped.

UK dress size 10 top
UK dress size 12 bottom (some 10s fit)

So stranger still, as you're heavier than me, shorter than me, yet size 10s fit you!

 

[clairejen]

Well I'm 5'4.5", currently weighing 9st 9.5lbs, lost 24lbs. My shape has not changed proportionately, my boobs (which have always been on the large side) haven't shrunk much, my waist (which used to be small) also hasn't gone down much but my hips are a lot smaller. I expect everything to rearrange itself when my eating stabilises.

I'm a 12-14 top, and a 10-12 bottom, depending on cut and make. I'm astounded by the differences in sizes people post, OK muscle weighs heavier than fat of the same volume, but I've heard that it only makes a mximum of 5 lbs difference.

I've heard that dress sizes have changed in recent years - apparently to fit in with the changing female shape, the sizes used to be based on typical 1950s figures when an hourglass shape was fashionable but now take account of the wider waists and slimmer hips which seem to prevail. I'm not sure if this observation is relevant, unless you compare sizes you wore 10-15 years ago with what's in the shops now.

I can only imagine most of the difference is down to strange things like the bits of us that aren't taken into account by clothes sizes. Like when you lose weight and your watch strap gets loose and your rings slide about, we lose subcutaneous fat everywhere, more so as we age. Just a guess, and I've no idea how much difference it makes.

 

[IWantSkinnyJeans]

This is really interesting - so much variation in shapes and sizes when height and weight are similar.

I am 5'6", weigh 10st2 (142lb) and am the opposite of pear shaped - smaller hips and top heavy (34FF).
In most shops that I use (River Island, Zara, Next, Top Shop, New Look) I am a size 10 bottom half - apart from the Gap who are very generous with their jeans and I can squeeze into a size 8.

I am a size 12-14 on the top depending on the cut to accommodate my much reduced but still rather silly boobs! Its frustrating as I would love to get some dresses but to fit me on top they hang in an unflattering maternity way round the waits and hips, and I am not going to risk the comment I got from my dentist before I started dieting. I mentioned I had twins. She asked when they were due. I told her they were one

 

[MadamDotty]

I am a size 12-14 on the top depending on the cut to accommodate my much reduced but still rather silly boobs! Its frustrating as I would love to get some dresses but to fit me on top they hang in an unflattering maternity way round the waits and hips, and I am not going to risk the comment I got from my dentist before I started dieting. I mentioned I had twins. She asked when they were due. I told her they were one

Oh Sarah, I bet she was mortified! That's one of those real OMG moments.

When I was overweight, for years I'd say well I have had a baby, and when they asked how old she was, I'd say 9, 10 whatever, oh months they say, no - years I knew I had to stop using this excuse!!

 

[kati]

well I'm 5'3 and weigh 153lbs. I'm an hourglass shape I think (but my waist isn shrinking with the rest of me) and I wear size 12 clothes.

 

[Cake'n'eat it]

Maybe as we get older gravity is at play - my ankles definitely look chunkier! Maybe I've got heavy hands too?

I weigh about the same as my mum, she is two inches shorter than me. I am a size 16 and she is pushing a twenty. But I carry weight all over and she puts it on mainly on her stomach.

Mind you, you often see larger older ladies with skinny legs so maybe my gravity theory doesn't work at all and I just have fat ankles - ahhhhhh the mysteries of life!

 

[SP30]

Comparing my stats to i'lldoit

5'2"
170 lbs
Weight Watchers Goal weight 9st 2 lbs (128 lbs)

(so far, similar)

Right now I'm ...... Size 18/40C

Weird

 

[Eclipse]

Hi.

I am 5' 8", 10st 3lbs and I am a size 12/14 tops (boobs still on the large size, but hey ho!) and a size 10/12 bottoms (10 stretch jeans, mainly 12 skirts - but a bit big on the waist, but do have some 10 skirts tho) I was a size 22/24 mostly all over!

 

[BurtBird]

Ooooooh!!!

... can't wait to be a 10!

Strange - I'm 5ft 2 and 10st 7 ... I am just about squeezing (ouch!) into a 12 now however my friend is exactly the same but in a 10!!! Not fair lol!!!!

x

 

[Mrs Depp]

I'm 4ft 11.5ins. Size 12/14 tops and a 10 bottoms.

Weight 120lbs

My boobs are still a DD but have reduced from 40 to 36inches.

Before I lost weight my shape was very hourglass with a smallish looking waist but now it's evened out and my hips have disappeared!

 

[Soraya]

I was wearing 16-20's and now have 8-14's in my wardrobe.

I feel a wierd shape as I do have childbearing hips, but have lost all the weight from them and still have a tummy. Always had a big chest and still have it. I HATE IT.

I have a pair of stretch trousers from Next and started wearing a tight 18 in them and now am in a tight 6 - OK they don't fit and I blistered my fingers doing up the zip!

But I was a 38G and now am a 32J. SOB.

Am 5ft 3.5 and very toned do a lot of pilates and weights. At 149 nearly there!

 

[Malinky]

Isn't it weird how we can vary so much?
I'm just at goal, I weigh 147lb (from 233lb) and am 5ft6, I've gone from wearing a size 20 (but I was probably a 22!) to a size 12 bottoms (10 in skirts if they're not too fitted round the thighs!) and a size 10/12 top if it's not buttoned and a 14 if it is buttoned (like Soraya I have the big boob problem - I've gone from a 38F to a 30FF, you can imagine how ridiculous I look!).
The other thing I find really odd is not only how much sizes vary between shops but how much they can even vary in the same shop! I can fit 3 different sizes of jeans in Next - how does that work??

BTW, Soraya - have you looked in Bravissimo? they have a great range of tops that are cut to fit big chests. You pick whatever size you normally are (so a 10/12 top for me) and then you can have it in curvy, really curvy or super curvy depending on how big a cup size you take. It's great to be able to get a shirt that fits for once!!

 

[Soraya]

Hi Malinky

congratulations on reaching your target - fantastic achievment and a great christmas pressie!

I've just got two bras from Bravissimo and I'm so impressed. I needed better bras with more support now that my tummy doesn't help hold anything up!

It was actually John Lewis who recommended them! I saw the blouses and love the idea of having top that people don't eye up as dangerous incase the buttons pop off and hit them in the eye.

I was always worried about looking like this if I lost weight - it's also one of the reasons I put weight on. A big chest doesn't look so weird if you're big all over.

I'm now a size 8/10 bottom and 32J on top - sob. An only 5ft 3.5. If I were younger I'd think about a career change to page 3! I've been offered reduction surgery on the NHS before but am not keen as the op seems so major and I have skin that scars badly. I guess I'll have to learn to live with it. But without weight to act as a shield.

 

[baileysandice]

Hi

I’ really glad I’ve found this thread. I’m a 5.3 ½ so a similar the same as Soraya and MadamDotty. I’ve always thought I’d have to weigh about 8st 10 to be a size 10 but judging by you guys I can afford to set my goal to 9st 7 then see if I need to go any lower. I’m a happy girl – still got loads of weight to lose but yay not as much as I thought.

Baileysandice

 

[dizzy-n-mizzy]

I'm 5st 9in

After a sudden gain I had just had to go shopping for some size 20's. The next week I started CD and now at the other end of my journey I seem to be a size 12. Some size 12's are loose but only on the bottom half. Just bought a very simple fitted dress in a 12 which is fine but maybe some 12's would be a bit small on top for me. Still learning my size as last time I was this size the sizings weren't as generous as they are these days.

Dizzy x

 

[WannaBeSlim]

I'm 5ft 8, 16 top and bottom (I have broad shoulders), weight 206lbs (14st 10) and boobs are 38D

 

[maiau1515]

I'm 5"6, 119lb. I fit size 10-12 (10 dresses, the boob room isn't usually too good in 10s though)
Also, isn't it weird how some people say that they're really light but we fit the same size? It's odd. Maybe to do with body shape/frame?

 

[Scarlett2007]

I'm 5'8 and 11stone 4. I've lost nearly 6 stone and was size 22-24. Can get in size 14 trousers most places but still an 18 on top (or a tight 16)...have shrunk from a 40FF to a 34F. Am now lighter than a friend who wears size 12/14 and i'm 4 inches taller than her. Bizarre. Altho clothes sizes have changed quite a bit, i've still got a size16 mini skirt from topshop that i bought in 1990....its still incredibly tight! (but as i couldn't get it past my knees when i started dieting, i'm still pleased :-D )