Same size but 25 lbs heavier?

vrokhfit

So I recently bought a couple of size 16 dresses that fit perfectly (after trying a couple size 20 and 18s that were too large...). It feels A.MAZ.ING!

The part I'm confused about is that the last time I fit nicely into a size 16 dress I was 25 lbs lighter...

The only thing I can think of is that last time I fit into a size 16, which was about 4 years ago, I had lost 45 lbs very quickly through a program called Slimgenics in which I ate BARELY 1200 cals a day (and subsequently gained it all back plus some), whereas this time I've lost 40ish lbs in about a year. The newest 15, however, have been in the last couple months and I did incorporate body weight workouts about a month ago and I SWEAR I have seen the BIGGEST change just in the last month since I started those workouts.

I almost feel like maybe I'm delusional... Can body weight workouts (and walking, I suppose) really preserve THAT much lean mass that I can be a whole 25 lbs heavier and wear the same size? And its not even like the two specific dresses fit.. I probably tried on 20 or so size 16s that all fit... Having said that, I'm pretty sure size 16 jeans wouldn't fit.. Though, I can't honestly say I've tried to wear any.

If lean mass preservation is really the key here that absolutely blows my mind. If anyone has any other explanation like maybe a shift in vanity sizing in the last 4 years please tell me!

Edited to fix a lack of proof reading

WBB55

Unless it is the same dress that you've had hanging in your closet, I doubt they're the same size dress.

That being said, I've spent a lot of time putting on some muscle. Now at 157-ish I'm wearing the same exact pants I wore at 147-ish. I'm right now actually wearing pants I bought when I weighed 137-ish (though they're tight at present).

FitGirl0123

The jeans that were tight in my waist when I was 120 pounds are now loose, and I'm 131 pounds. The problem is the quads.. they don't fit in anything anymore, lol.

kshama2001

I have two pairs of capris from the same manufacturer but different styles, putatively the same size. However, when you put one on top of the other, they are clearly different sizes.

That said, there's also something to body composition.

memo1974

Simple put: "muscle is alive, fat is dead" what this means is that the more muscle you have the more calories you body needs to function everyday.
Example: 25 pounds of muscle will burn calories all day long without you having to do anything, any living cell in our body needs to be regenerated every few hours.
Fat on the other hand is dead, it is like having a backpack with 25 pound of bricks on you all the time.

It sounds like you are learning first hand that it is not about losing "weight" but losing fat. A calorie deficient diet will make you lose weight, mostly from muscle if you don't exercise. A healthy diet will feed the muscles, a good weight lifting plan will keep your muscles, making it easy to burn the fat.

Learn from the bodybuilders, drugs aside, they eat and train to maintain as much muscle as possible while getting rid of as much fat as possible for the competitions. Check out bodybuilding dot com for great diet an exercise articles. Cheers.

dianaiku

At 180 pounds I was a size 12, and when I hit 160 pounds I will probably still be size 12 jeans because I have large calves. So this can happen just because larger sizes fit a wider range of pounds than smaller sizes.

sarab920

dianaiku wrote: »

At 180 pounds I was a size 12, and when I hit 160 pounds I will probably still be size 12 jeans because I have large calves. So this can happen just because larger sizes fit a wider range of pounds than smaller sizes.

Same with me. My butt and thighs won't let me be great lol

GetThatRunnersHigh

Echoing everyone here, body composition effects sizing a lot more than weight. Do you measure yourself to check progress? Tape measures are great sanity checks when vanity sizing and scale are all over the place.

vrokhfit

GetThatRunnersHigh wrote: »

Echoing everyone here, body composition effects sizing a lot more than weight. Do you measure yourself to check progress? Tape measures are great sanity checks when vanity sizing and scale are all over the place.

I took my first set of measurements at the beginning of this month. I plan on measuring at the beginning of each month. It'll be very interesting to see the results, I've never been a measurer

vrokhfit

sarab920 wrote: »

dianaiku wrote: »

At 180 pounds I was a size 12, and when I hit 160 pounds I will probably still be size 12 jeans because I have large calves. So this can happen just because larger sizes fit a wider range of pounds than smaller sizes.

Same with me. My butt and thighs won't let me be great lol

I have the opposite problem. No booty and too much belly!

vrokhfit

kshama2001 wrote: »

I have two pairs of capris from the same manufacturer but different styles, putatively the same size. However, when you put one on top of the other, they are clearly different sizes.

That said, there's also something to body composition.

Oh for sure, I once bought a size 16 pair and a size 20 pair of jeans by the same manufacturer at the same time that both fit correctly.

I did find one brand, designer, whatever (Lauren Ralph Lauren) that was just a touch too small to be comfortable in a 16 but the rest of them fit really well. (I spent like 3 hours at Macy's yesterday trying to find dresses for a cruise).

tomteboda

US standard women's dress sizes are revised every few years.

Misses 16s

1931: 34-28-37
1971: 38-29-40
1995: 40.5-32.5-43
2011: 42.2-36-44.3
Catalogue: 41-33-44

If your pants were (correctly) sized in 2010, with a 32.5" waist and 43" hip, that'd be a lot lighter than the weight at which you fit into a 36" waist and 44.3" hip.

SingRunTing

I'm voting for a mixture of body composition and vanity sizing.

tomteboda

Also, congratulations! I'm right alongside you I just hit current size 14s but have to remind myself that its the same as a 16 from when I was thinner.

PhoenyxRose

memo1974 wrote: »

Simple put: "muscle is alive, fat is dead" ...

Example: 25 pounds of muscle will burn calories all day long without you having to do anything, any living cell in our body needs to be regenerated every few hours.
Fat on the other hand is dead, it is like having a backpack with 25 pound of bricks on you all the time

Please don't spread misinformation like this. Fat IS NOT dead, adipocytes are living cells in our body with nuclei that create and expend energy, just like any other cell. And no, not all cells are dying and being regenerated every few hours, that may be the RATE of loss and renewal for some organs but I know of at least two cell types (the intestinal lining and RBCs) that live for two weeks, and several other cell types that live for months before needing to be replaced or
seemingly forever (neurons, although there is some debate about this).

NoIdea101NoIdea

Also, when was the last time you fit nicely into that size 16 dress and were 25lbs lighter?

I don't know where you are, but here in the UK, clothing sizes have gotten larger over the past few years - what was a size 18 is now actually a 16, etc. I have plenty of old clothes in one size that are too small, but clothes of the same size bought recently that are just a little bit too big. It makes shopping really frustrating!

ar9179

tomteboda wrote: »

US standard women's dress sizes are revised every few years.

Misses 16s

1931: 34-28-37
1971: 38-29-40
1995: 40.5-32.5-43
2011: 42.2-36-44.3
Catalogue: 41-33-44

If your pants were (correctly) sized in 2010, with a 32.5" waist and 43" hip, that'd be a lot lighter than the weight at which you fit into a 36" waist and 44.3" hip.

SingRunTing wrote: »

I'm voting for a mixture of body composition and vanity sizing.

+1 to the above

Great job! Keep up the bodyweight exercises because, you're right, weighted workouts DO shape your body very nicely Strength training and yoga get this woman to the gym religiously...that's never happened before!

scolaris

Congratulations! It sounds like you've recompositioned some. This is the kind of weight loss you will be less likely to gain back if you keep at your fitness.

rainbowbow

I think there's a couple factors at play here.

1.) There is more margin for weight gain and loss at the clothing size you wear. Most people must drop MUCH more weight than they imagined to go down in pants and clothing sizes, especially when you are in the higher teens. Even in the sizes I wear i had to lose 25 pounds (which is roughly 20% of my total body weight) to go from a size 6 to a size 3.

2.) Clothing sizes vary wildly from brand to brand, even within 1 brand. And they are constantly getting lower in number as the years go on. For example, I currently wear a size 1-3, but 20 years ago it would be a size 8! It's likely that the clothing you were wearing that was a 16 is no longer the same measurements they use for a size 16. Vanity sizing is so frustrating.

3.) You could have more muscle mass now and therefore are similar in inches and measurments to what you were before.

Either way keep at it and don't worry about it too much.

vrokhfit

Great points, all! I'm sure it's a combination of factors mentioned above and I do feel slightly less insane knowing that.. Thanks for your responses