A friend of mine is quite tall and slim. (Green!!) Well she said how much to lose a dress size - 5 lbs. I laughed. More like about 2 stone in my case. I've lost 13 lbs and not gone down a size. But I didn't realise that the more you lose the quicker your size goes down. Have to get my head round that one!!
Try this:
If I draw a circle on the floor 50 cms wide (diameter), and then I want to paint a 5cm wide line around the outside edge, I'll use a certain amount of paint, and the circle will now be 10 cms wider in total.
If i draw a 100cm wide circle, and I want to paint a 5cm line around the outside in paint, the circle will still only be 10cms wider than when it started, but i'll have to use a lot more paint.
So it is with people. If you have a 30 inch waist (size 14), and i lose 2 inches (size 12) that represents a certain weight of flesh that's now not there. If I have a 32 inch waist (size 16), and also lose two inches, a lot more actual flesh has had to go.
Added to that, the gaps between sizings are not regular - so with waist sizes, the most common difference is 2 inches, but it can vary between 1 inch and 4.5 inches. For example between a size 20 and 22 there's only an inch and a half, but between size 22 and 24 there are 4 and a half inches, before the difference drops down to 2.75inches for 24 and 26.
stupid really.