Weight v Clothes size

shirleyatsegment

I have lost 37lbs and yet am still the same UK size 16 that I was when I began my regime 11 months ago. The clothes do fit a little more comfortably but not really by much. Anyone else experience quite a big weight loss (I have about 12lbs to go to reach recommended level for my height) but no noticeable change in fit of clothes?

VintageFeline

Have you taken measurements at all? Are you prone to holding your weight round your middle? Sometimes if you're bigger in the middle it will come off everywhere else first meaning your tummy will stay relatively the same size for quite a while.

VintageFeline

And if you wear clothing with stretch it can be hard to really tell the before and after. I'm still wearing clothing I bought a couple of sizes ago but they have stretch so they are actually just fitting as they should now as opposed to their upper limit!

collectingblues

It's also possible that before, you were wearing things that didn't actually fit -- you know, pulling at the back and bust, showing muffin tops at the waist, etc.

What do your measurements show?

mburgess458

I'm not a woman, but that really surprises me. Over the last 30 years I have always seen a direct relationship between my waist and my weight... if I lose 10 lbs my waist shrinks by 1 inch if I gain 10 lbs my waist grows by 1 inch.

Pocket__Cthulhu

Are you lifting any weights? If you aren't, you could add some in. I have noticed a huge change after about a year of lifting in the way my clothes fit.

megs_1985

That is strange to me a bit. I know if I lose 10lbs I usually go down a size (US). But with women's clothes it matters on brands and how they size things a lot. In some brands I'm a 12 and others I'm a 16. It's very frustrating and I hate shopping because of it. It's also why I'm trying to get back down to a 6 or 8 because at that size I always found clothes that fit. When you're at the point between "average" and "plus size" it's difficult to find clothes.

Need2Exerc1se

37 lb loss and no change in clothing size? That sounds crazy. How tall are you?

deksgrl

Move your thinking to fat loss, not weight loss.

steveko89

US-based male here, in October of 2011 I started a job where I was issued uniforms. Over that time I went from about 165 lbs, up over 190, dropped back down as low as 159, then started lifting and have gained back up as high as 190, have been cutting down into the mid-170s and still wear the same uniforms six years later.

mitch16

Were your clothes really tight before?

Have you gone to the shop to try on new clothes? I had lost about the same amount of weight and went shopping... I figured I would only be down 1 size, but the shopgirl looked at me and pulled out pants and skirts that were 2 sizes smaller... and to my surprise, they fit wonderfully!

Ready2Rock206

It took me 50lbs to go down a pant size and even then I barely fit in the smaller size. I was even doing strength training and working out but it didn't make any difference.

magster4isu

I noticed for me that originally it took a long time to go down a size. Then, all of a sudden, I started going down several sizes very quickly. As mentioned before, you might be losing inches in certain areas faster than other areas.

Lizakabibbis

I remained in the same size for 40lbs. Problem was - I went from looking like a busted can of biscuits to clothes that actually fit me like they should. Just remember - you could be losing inches and while your clothes fit they probably just fit differently.

maybe1pe

I have heard that there is a smaller difference between smaller sizes. and a larger difference between larger sizes. It took me quite a while to move down a size when I first started. but it seems much more frequent now.

WhereIsPJSoles

I thought this was happening to me until I went and tried new clothes on in a store. All my clothes I already owned fit fine (I thought, turns out they had gotten baggy on me and I was the last to notice) and when I had to keep going out to get a smaller size I realized I had dropped 2 sizes. That baggy feeling wasn’t one I was used to and because the weight was coming off slowly I guess I got myself accustomed to my roomy pants.

LAWoman72

It took me 40 lbs. to go down a size, starting from a weight of 212.

I do know I was squeezing into my clothes at that point and also that some clothiers have much broader parameters the higher the size goes...so IOW, size 5 may only be a smidge smaller than size 7 (I remember if I was up/down 5 lbs. at those sizes, I'd go up/down a size) but an 18 and a 20 may cover many possible pounds/inches worth of woman (depending...since everyone's composition is different, we're different heights and so on).

Just something I've noticed about sizing. I don't know if all clothiers do this or if I just happened upon the ones who did. As I said, it took 40 lbs. to go down one size, but in just the 15-20 lbs. since then, I've gone down two more sizes. And those two sizes were because my pants were literally hanging off me by that time. We're not talking about squeezing in.

cjfarborist

I didn't even notice that my skinny jeans (size 14) could be slipped off without unzipping until I was trying on new pants and found out that the 12s fit much better. While I can wa5er the 14s they bag at the rear and knees while the 12's fit really well. Maybe something like that is happening with you? Have you been to a store and tried a lower size?

apullum

I used to wear a size 16 and now I wear a size 0. I remember it taking me a lot longer to get from 16 to 14 than from 2 to 0, even though my rate of weight loss was faster in the beginning.

I also agree with what several folks are saying about variation in clothing measurements at larger sizes vs. at smaller sizes. Before I lost weight, I was always a 16, no matter what. I wore a size 16 through a lot of weight fluctuations and brands. Now...sometimes I'm a 0, sometimes I'm a 2, sometimes I'm a 00, sometimes (rarely) I'm a 4. There's a lot more variation across brands and styles. I have size 6 stuff that I bought in the spring when I was less than 10 pounds above my goal weight, and it's too big now.

SueSueDio

maybe1pe wrote: »

I have heard that there is a smaller difference between smaller sizes. and a larger difference between larger sizes. It took me quite a while to move down a size when I first started. but it seems much more frequent now.

This happened to me too. Over the course of 70lbs I've gone from a Canadian 20/22 to a 10/12, but going from the biggest down to 16 took about 50lbs, and my size has changed much more frequently over the last 20lbs.

I second what others have said about clothes fitting differently, too - I used to convince myself that certain items of clothing fit me and looked okay, when really they didn't. I was a bit disappointed when I started losing that it took so long to actually go down a size, but if I was honest with myself those clothes began to fit like they should have in the first place long before they started to get baggy...

I still wear some large/size 16 things now, as long as they're not too loose... it depends on the style and how they're shaped, but I'm a lot fussier about what I wear these days instead of just being happy that something "fits".

Stick with it, and start taking measurements if you haven't been doing so - you might see a difference that way. I carry a lot of my excess weight around my middle, so I could probably be a smaller size in jeans and pants if that would go away. As it is, smaller jeans fit my legs better but won't do up around my belly. It really helps to have measurements to look back on, in those cases, to remind myself that I really have lost a decent amount!

shirleyatsegment

Thanks for all responses. I have been measuring and putting those adjustments into the fitness pal monitor but as some of you have said the places that have adjusted have been arms, face and so on. I have indeed tried on clothes in the next size down but apart from things without shape they don't fit me. I can certainly agree that some of my current stuff is now a bit loose but not really baggy. I will consider all advice hitherto offered. Your thoughts and experiences have been much appreciated.